970 refugees rescued off the coast of Libya

Italy’s coastguard coordinated the rescue of some 970 migrants crammed into four rubber dinghies and two wooden boats off the coast of Libya on Thursday.

In the past two weeks 1,135 migrants have been rescued and 102 bodies retrieved off the Libyan coast, according to the UN migration agency in Libya

Read: EU should pay more to return African migrants home from Libya, Malta says

Over 13,400 people have already arrived in Italy this year whilst some 440 have gone missing attempting the crossing from Libya. The journey across the Mediterranean is at its most treacherous during the winter months.

On 20 February this picture was taken of a rubber boat, filled with the bodies of refugees washed up on the shore in Libya near the town of Zawiya that has become famous as being the capital of fuel smuggling and human trafficking:

Rubber boat packed with #migrants' bodies has been washed up on shore in #Libya near #Zawiya. Pic taken yesterday by local person pic.twitter.com/chUEXQrvp0

— Nancy Porsia (@nancyporsia) March 3, 2017