At least 50 migrants, including women and children, were feared lost at sea, while 10 survived, ​after their wooden boat capsized on Tuesday in ‌the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of Libya, two security sources told Reuters.

The survivors were rescued near El-Bardaa Island, some 70 km (43 miles) west of Tobruk, near the border with Egypt.

Libya has become a transit ⁠route for migrants fleeing conflict and poverty to Europe ​via dangerous routes across the desert and over the ​Mediterranean since the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011.

The security sources said the boat was carrying about 60 ​migrants. According to the survivors, the boat set sail ​early in the morning.

The migrants are from different sub-Saharan countries, the sources ‌said. ⁠They spoke on condition of anonymity.

Separately, rescue teams in Tobruk recovered four bodies of migrants on Monday and rescued 24 after their boat was found adrift in Libyan ​waters for two ​weeks, according ⁠to the security sources.

"The boat was carrying 28 migrants who faced extremely harsh humanitarian ​conditions aboard a dilapidated boat where four ​died because ⁠of that," said one of the sources.

"The survivors were taken to a local hospital for medical treatment," the source ⁠said.

In ​June, authorities in Tobruk recovered about ​26 bodies of migrants when their boat capsized near the city.