At least 44 people were found dead on Wednesday on three overcrowded migrant boats found drifting precariously off the coast of Libya.

The bulk of the victims were found in the hold of a wooden boat which was intercepted by the Swedish coastguard vessel the Poseidon.

Swedish coastguard spokesman Mattias Lindholm told AFP the Poseidon had been able to pluck 439 people to safety from the wooden boat and put the number presumed to have suffocated in the hold at around 40.

The Italian coastguard, which coordinates rescue efforts in the area, estimated the number of dead at 50 and said four other bodies, including those of three women, were found on two crowded rubber dinghies later in the day.

The Swedish ship was in the area as part of the EU border agency Frontex's search and rescue mission known as Triton.

Just before the discovery of the bodies, the Poseidon had picked up 130 migrants from a rubber dinghy, Lindholm said.

A spokesman for the Italian coastguard said a total of just under 1,900 people had been rescued by mid-afternoon but that figure was expected to rise.

MOAS, a Malta-based private organisation, said in a tweet that its boat the Phoenix was taking part in a complex rescue operation.

"Phoenix are working with Italian and Swedish vessels to assist thousands," it said.

On August 15, the Italian navy discovered the bodies of 49 migrants asphyxiated in the hold of a people smuggler's boat. Survivors later testified that the victims had been locked below deck and constrained to stay there by force.

More than 2,300 migrants have died at sea this year during attempts to reach Europe, almost invariably on overcrowded boats chartered by people smugglers.

Calm weather this week appears to have encouraged the smugglers to get as many people as possible out to sea, knowing that, in most cases, they will be picked up by Italian or international boats and taken to southern Italian ports.

The Italian coastguard coordinated the rescue of nearly 5,000 people at the weekend and the latest operations will lift to more than 110,000 the number of migrants to have landed at Italian ports this year.

A further 160,000-plus have arrived in Greece, triggering a crisis for which the European Union is struggling to find a solution.
Source: AFP