Migrant crisis: ‘Scores of bodies’ found on Libya boat

Most were rescued over the weekend, plucked from wooden or rubber boats, in one of the busiest three-day periods since the Frontex-coordinated operation Triton was launched in November 2014.

Italian media reported that another boat with some 700 people aboard was in trouble in the same area.

Thousands of people, mainly from Africa and the Middle East, have put to sea this year in the hope of reaching Europe, often dangerously packed onto small boats that were never designed to cross the Mediterranean.

The latest tragedy comes as the worldwide Organisation for Migration (IOM) said as many as 2,000 people have died attempting the voyage from Libya this year alone.

A spokeswoman for the Italian coast guard said the Swedish ship Poseidon had gone to help the people on the boat where the bodies were found. More than 110,000 migrants have been rescued and brought to southern Italian ports.

“The worldwide community must do all it can to go after the criminal gangs and people smugglers who trade so carelessly with the lives of others”.

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) deployed HMS Enterprise to help tackle the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean in June, replacing its Albion-class assault ship HMS Bulwark. “It is vital that HMS Enterprise continues with her picture building role so that we can better understand what is needed of this evolving mission”.

“HMS Enterprise together with the other European Union Naval Force partners are committed to addressing the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean including the provision of lifesaving capability when it is necessary”.