(ANSA) – Geneva, April 21 – Some 350 Eritreans were among the 850 people who perished in the migrant boat that sank off the coast of Libya on Saturday night, a United Nations spokesperson said on Tuesday.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees spokesperson Adrian Edwards said, “according to survivors heard by UNHCR, the boat left Tripoli, Libya on Saturday with approximately 850 people and many children. Among the people on board, there were 350 Eritreans, and (others) from Syria, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Mali, Senegal, Gambia, Ivory Coast and Ethiopia”.

The European Union is in the process of deciding a course of action targeting human traffickers in the Mediterranean in the wake of migrant-boat disaster.

On Monday, the European Commission presented a 10-point plan including destroying smugglers’ boats on the Libyan coast.

Italy unveiled a five-point plan on Tuesday which includes a similar approach to destroying smuggler boats and the possible use of drones. Proposals will be examined by a special EU summit Thursday.