THE bodies of three babies were recovered and around 100 people reported missing after a migrant boat sank off the coast of Libya on Friday, survivors and the coastguard said.

About 120 migrants were aboard the inflatable dinghy at the time, survivors brought ashore in Al-Hmidiya east of the capital Tripoli told AFP.

Sixteen people were rescued.

Libya is the main jumping off point for most migrants trying to reach Europe.

The tragedy at sea underscores the urgency of European countries agreeing on a deal to help stem the influx of migrants to the continent.

European Union leaders declared victory on Friday regarding a migrant plan, claiming to have set aside their major differences over how best to handle migrant arrivals as they commissioned new plans to screen people in North Africa for eligibility to enter Europe.

But even as they met for a second day in Brussels, the coast guard in Libya announced that 100 people were missing and feared dead in the Mediterranean Sea after their smugglers’ boat capsized.

Bickering over who should take responsibility for the tens of thousands rescued from the Mediterranean has undermined EU unity and threatens the future of cross-border business and travel inside Europe.

At the summit, the EU leaders agreed upon a “new approach” to managing those who are plucked from the water.

They would be “disembarked” from rescue ships into EU nations that agree to share responsibility for handing migration with the EU’s main point-of-entry countries like Spain, Italy and Greece but also to centres in North Africa and possibly the Balkans.

“A complete approach was adopted,” French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters after a night of haggling to address vehement demands from Italy’s new anti-migrant populist government.

“All hastily-made solutions, be they solely national ones or a betrayal of our values that consists in pushing people off to third countries, were clearly set aside,” he said.

Even new Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, whose anti-Europe government has rocked the EU’s political landscape, said: “On the whole, we can say we are satisfied.”

“Italy is no longer alone, as we requested.”

The results may have saved Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government, as her coalition ally was demanding a tougher line on migrants than the more welcoming policies she has preferred so far.

Chancellor Merkel cautiously welcomed the proposal, saying: “I am optimistic after today that we can now really continue to work, although we have a lot to do, even bridging the different views.”

The EU’s executive Commission now has the job of drafting something more concrete in co-ordination with the UN’s refugee agency and the International Organization for Migration, which would prefer to operate in European migration centres only.

The UNHCR cautiously welcomed the EU’s new plan but cautioned that it must be made clearer and said African involvement via the African Union regional bloc in the plan was “indispensable.”

Leonard Doyle, an IOM spokesman, said his agency was “very pleased at the solidarity and consensus” that emerged from the EU summit in Brussels, in particular with frontline states like Italy.

Libya is one of the countries where the EU is considering setting up its “disembarkation platforms,” along with Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Niger and Tunisia.

UNHCR spokesman Charlie Yaxley noted that for the fifth year in a row the “grim milestone” of 1,000 migrant deaths in the Mediterranean has been crossed already — and it’s still only in the first half of 2018.

But migrant experts and humanitarian aid groups fear the EU agreement is a political smoke screen aimed at addressing the concerns of resurgent anti- migrant parties in Europe and which will only leave vulnerable people once again at risk.

Oxfam migration policy adviser Raphael Shilhav said it looks like the EU is planning more “de facto detention centres” and warned that “this approach to migration is a recipe for failure, and directly threatens the rights of women, men and children on the move.”

Imogen Sudbery at the International Rescue Committee said the new “disembarkation platforms” raise more questions than answers.

“Would this approach be compatible with international law? Would those apprehended be transferred to the nearest safe port? Crucially, under which country’s law would claims be assessed? Who would be responsible for those whose claims are upheld? We need clarity on this,” she said.

While the EU summit left the fate of those making the dangerous water crossing in doubt, it has thrown Germany a political lifeline.

On the seas, there was scepticism. The captain of a ship operated by the Spanish Proactiva humanitarian group worries that the EU-funded and trained Libyan coast guard might now be recognised as part of the Mediterranean rescue apparatuses. He said having the Libyan coast guard involved simply further endangered vulnerable migrants.

Libya has emerged as a major transit point to Europe for those fleeing poverty and civil war elsewhere in Africa and the Middle East. Traffickers have exploited Libya’s chaos following the 2011 uprising that toppled and later killed longtime dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi.

On Friday, Libyan coast guard spokesman Ayoub Gassim told The Associated Press that 14 migrants were rescued in waters east of the capital, Tripoli.