An Italian foreign ministry source on Tuesday denied claims by a Spanish charity Pro Activa Open Arms that Libyan coastguard caused the a woman and a toddler to perish after they left them on a migrant boat and sank the vessel.
"The version of events circulated (on Twitter) by the NGO in the past few hours is fake news," the source told Adnkronos.
"In the coming hours, a version of events provided by independent observers will be provided that refutes the claim that the Libyans failed to provide assistance," the source said.
Pro Activa Open Arms' founder Oscar Camps tweeted shocking pictures of the drowned woman and child floating amid the wreckage of the dinghy and the rescue of a second woman, who was found alive at the scene.
Camps said the two women and the toddler had refused to board the Libyan vessels with the rest of the intercepted migrants, and the three were abandoned in the sea after the Libyan coast guard sank the migrants' boat.
Libyan coastguards earlier sent out a message to the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination saying they had picked up 158 Europe-bound migrants off the city of Khoms on Monday.
The migrants received humanitarian and medical assistance and were taken to a refugee camp at Khoms, the coastguard said.
