Nearly 250 feared dead

Up to 250 migrants are feared drowned after two refugee boats sunk in the Mediterranean Sea, the United Nations has said.

A baby was among the bodies washed up on beaches in Libya following the latest disasters, which push the record death toll above 1,300 so far in 2017.

The country's coastguard picked up seven migrants who said they had been on an overloaded dinghy packed with 170 people, which sank on Sunday.

Omar Koko, a coastguard commander in the western city of Zawiya, said more than 30 women and nine children were among those feared drowned.

At least 11 bodies washed up on nearby beaches and were recovered by the Red Crescent, while at least 7,500 migrants have been rescued since Thursday.

Survivors of a second shipwreck were rescued by the Italian coastguard, telling authorities their boat started deflating under the weight of 130 people.

Based on its interviews with survivors in Sicily, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimated the number of dead at more than 80, with around 50 people rescued.

Migrant arrivals to Italy by sea are up about 30 per cent this year on 2016, when a record 181,000 people were rescued and taken ashore.

As well as drowning, refugees have been killed by suffocation and hypothermia in sea crossings, as well as on land by being run over, electrocuted, shot and hit by trains.

Boat crossings between Libya and Italy – now the deadliest sea passage in the world – have increased since the controversial EU-Turkey deal shut the comparatively shorter and safer crossing over the Aegean Sea.

The EU is increasing cooperation with the fragile Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) in attempts to combat people smuggling, but efforts have been hampered by the country's ongoing civil war and grave human rights abuses.

Migrants are routinely detained, tortured, extorted or forced into labour and prostitution by gangs, who operate with impunity in the chaos following the British-backed ousting of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The International Criminal Court is collecting information on the imprisonment of an estimated 20,000 migrants and their treatment, amid reports of "slave markets".