Sixty-one people including women and children have drowned following a tragic shipwreck off Libya, a UN agency has said.

The boat originally contained 86 people and left the Libyan shores from Zwara, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Earlier, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said illegal migration threatens to “overwhelm” Europe and hinted a change is needed in international law in order to tackle it.

Speaking to Italian conservatives at an event in Rome, the prime minister said “enemies” could use immigration as a “weapon” by “deliberately driving people to our shores to try to destabilise our society”.

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