Updated - Adds Home Affairs Minister's reaction - As many as 500 people may have died in the a shipwreck off the Libyan coast in what UNCHR is describing as "one of the worst tragedies involving refugees and migrants in the last 12 months". 

Initial reports of the shipwreck surfaced on BBC Arabic three days ago but remained unconfirmed at the time. UNHCR says it has now interviewed survivors. 

The 41 survivors were rescued by a merchant ship and taken to Kalamata, Greece on 16 April. Those rescued include 23 Somalis, 11 Ethiopians, 6 Egyptians and a Sudanese.

Survivors told UNHCR that they had set sail from an area near Tobruk in Libya. Smugglers then tried to transfer them to a much larger boat in "terribly overcrowded conditions". The large boat then capsized and sank.

Some managed to swim back to the smaller boat. They then drifted at sea for up to three days, before being spotted and rescued on April 16.

Confirmation of the tragedy comes exactly a year after a similar shipwreck saw over 800 people lose their lives.

Malta's Parliament held a minute's silence on Monday, when the initial reports of the tragedy started filtering through.

This evening, Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela said he was shocked by the reports.

“This tragedy is yet another horrific blemish on Europe’s collective conscience,” he stated.

"This latest heartbreaking incident only reinforces Malta’s repeated calls for more EU and international action in the Mediterranean."

He said he would be raising the issue at tomorrow’s meeting of EU Home Affairs Ministers in Luxembourg.