The accident is said to have occurred after an inflatable boat with at least 110 migrants on board capsized off the coast of Libya.
The migrants are said to have traveled from the coastal city of Zawiya and were on their way to Europe.
The Libyan coast guard has rescued 95 people, but at least 15 people are said to have drowned and several are missing.
Most of the migrants come from Cameroon, Sudan and Mali, according to the UN migration agency IOM, which took care of those rescued at a naval base in Tripoli.
- It is extra tragic that in most cases very little is done to locate the bodies of the drowned, says Safa Msehli, spokesperson for the IOM in Geneva.
Organized human trafficking and lawlessness have flourished since dictator Muammar Gaddafi and his regime were overthrown in 2011.
More than 1,200 migrants died in 2020 after embarking on the risky journey across the Mediterranean to find security and a better life in Europe.