More than a hundred African migrants are believed to have died after a wooden boat they were traveling in sunk about half a mile from the coast of Libya, according to a report by Al Jazeera.

The Libyan navy had sent rescue boats to the area after it was informed about the incident, but has been able to rescue but a handful of the 200 to 250 people believed to be on board when the boat sank near Tajoura east of Tripoli.

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The migrants were headed for Europe, Libyan authorities say, although it was not clear where the migrants were from except that the boat originated from Libya. Human traffickers have been taking advantage of the political chaos and lack of security in Libya and sending migrants illegally to Europe since Muammar Gaddafi was ousted in 2011.

Libyan Navy spokesman Ayub Qassem told Reuters news agency that rescue assets were inadequate to respond to the disaster.

"There are many dead bodies floating in the sea," he said. The under-equipped Libyan coast guard have found 26 bodies as of Sunday night and continues to search for survivors.

Many accidents have occurred in recent years in the Mediterranean resulting to hundreds of deaths due to the use of unsafe and overloaded wooden boats. In late August, 100 people died when a similar boat capsized near Libya while bound for Europe. Many of those who died were Somalis and Eritreans. At least 50 more passengers were never recovered.

Earlier in August, Tunisian rescuers intercepted 90 African migrants after their makeshift boat broke down off the island of Zarzis. The boat was headed for Lampedusa Island in Italy.

In June, Italian coast guard boats recovered the bodies of at least 10 African migrants when their rubber dinghy sank near Libya. Dozens of other passengers were rescued.

Since 2011, an estimated 100,000 illegal migrants have reached the shores of Italy due to human trafficking activities. About 15,000 have reached Greece, while some 1,800 have been able to reach Spain.

But this year alone, almost 2,000 migrants have died in boat sinkings in the Mediterranean, according to data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

TagsLibya, Mediterranean, Italy