(Updates number of people rescued by Italy, adds Libyan coastguard picking up boats)
By Steve Scherer
ROME May 26 (Reuters) - A migrant boat capsized in the Mediterranean on Thursday and while about 100 passengers were rescued, an unknown number are feared dead, officials said.
All told, the Italian coastguard said it had helped save 4,000 migrants today, in 22 operations. That brings the total number Italy has helped rescue since Monday to more than 10,000 - a sign that Europe's immigration crisis is far from over.
Separately, Libya's coastguard said it had stopped six boats carrying more than 750 migrants off the country's western coast, and had recovered four bodies.
Thursday's shipwreck was the second in two days as sea crossings accelerate amid good weather. Five people were confirmed to have died when a large fishing boat flipped over in the sea on Wednesday.
Europe's worst immigration crisis since World War Two has led to more than 8,000 deaths in 2 1/2 years, the International Organization for Migration estimates.
Boat arrivals in Italy have risen sharply this week with warm weather and calm seas, and about 20 rescue operations are currently under way, a coastguard spokesman said.
Based on initial pictures from the aircraft that spotted the boat that overturned on Thursday, 20 to 30 people are feared to have died in the shipwreck, a spokesman for European Union's Sophia naval mission said.
Italy's coastguard declined to estimate how many may have died. "We don't know how many people were on board," the coastguard spokesman said.
The non-profit organisation Sea-Watch, which has a rescue ship in the area, said it was about to recover one body from the sea following a shipwreck and that it had picked up 115 migrants from a rubber boat.
"Aboard the boats are many Syrian and Iraqi people," Sea-Watch said on Facebook. A European Union agreement to send migrants back to Turkey from Greece is forcing refugees to travel from North Africa to Europe, the group said.
So far, migrants from the Middle East have mostly travelled through Turkey to Greece. Most migrants who came to Italy by boat came from Africa.
Libya's coastguard has blocked more than 2,000 migrants trying to leave Libyan waters for Europe this week.
On Thursday, it intercepted four boats early in the morning carrying about 550 people near the western port of Sabratha, Tripoli coastguard spokesman Ayoub Qassem said. Hours later, another 216 migrants were picked up from two boats off Zuwara, and the bodies of four migrants were found in the area, he said.
Through Tuesday, total sea arrivals in Italy had fallen by 9 percent this year to 37,743, according to the Interior Ministry. The country's migrant shelters are under pressure to house 115,507 migrants, about twice as many as two years ago.
Some 650 migrants and the five dead bodies picked up by the Italian navy arrived at the Sicilian city of Porto Empedocle, where the migrants will get food and clothing. Officials will try to identify them before sending them to shelters. (Reporting by Steve Scherer in Rome and Ahmed Elumami in Tripoli; Editing by Isla Binnie and Larry King)
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ISE-SHIMA, Japan, May 26 Reuters) - Britain plans to send a navy warship to help battle the smuggling of both people and arms off the coast of Libya, Prime Minister David Cameron will tell G7 leaders on Thursday.
The European Union this week agreed to help rebuild Libya's shattered navy and coastguard to tackle migrant smugglers after a plea for aid from the new U.N.-backed unity government in Tripoli.
A U.N. Security Council resolution would be needed to go after arms traffickers on the high seas, ministers said at the time.
A government spokesman said that during a session on foreign affairs on Thursday evening, Cameron would set out Britain's plans to increase its involvement in the region, where it already has four ships.
"(The prime minister will) make the argument it is a global challenge requiring a comprehensive solution, reiterate our determination to work with the Libyan government and help them build the capacity of their coastguard to help them intercept boats off the Libyan coast," the spokesman said.
"We will now take an active leadership role in that process ... Once the relevant U.N. security resolutions are in place, we intend to deploy a navy warship to the region to assist in the interception of arms and human smuggling."
U.N.-backed Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Seraj, who has yet to establish his government beyond Tripoli, wrote to EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini to request the naval support, as well as possible training for Libyan security personnel.
A British government official said there had not yet been a formal request from Libya to operate within its waters, but one was expected "fairly swiftly". The warship could be operating in the area within weeks, the official added.
The EU's "Operation Sophia" mission operates in international waters near Libya but is too far out to destroy boats used by people smugglers, catch traffickers or head off migrants seeking to reach Europe by sea from Libya. (Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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