Rome, January 8 (RHC)-- Sixty-four migrants lost their lives in a weekend shipwreck off the coast of Libya, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Monday.

"64 migrants lost their life in the shipwreck occurred last Saturday, IOM spokesman Flavio Di Giacomo. "Survivors are 86. 8 corpses recovered and probably 56 missing migrants," he added.

Di Giacomo posted the information after IOM staff interviewed survivors who arrived at the southern Italian port of Catania late on Sunday.

In the first reports on Saturday, the Italian coastguard said it recovered eight bodies and 84 survivors, while German migrant rescue charity Sea-Watch spoke of "at least" 25 dead.

The incident, which took place north of Tripoli, was 2018's first deadly migrant shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea, the world's most dangerous migration route.

In a separate development, the Libyan navy wrote on Facebook that on Sunday it rescued 272 migrants, including 53 women and 56 children, from two rubber boats, and recovered the bodies of two women.

The migrants were of various African nationalities and were taken back to Libya, the navy said.