Thousands of migrants trying to reach Europe: Libya navy

At least 20 boats carrying thousands of migrants on their way to Italy were spotted on Friday off the coast of the western city of Sabratha, the Libyan navy said.

"Large rescue and interception operations are under way" with the help of the Libyan coastguard, fishing and commercial boats and in coordination with the Italian authorities, navy spokesman General Ayoub Qassem said.

"Today is the day of a massive exodus of illegal migrants toward Europe," he added, without elaborating.

The North African country has long been a stepping stone for migrants seeking a better life in Europe.

Smugglers have stepped up their lucrative business in the chaos which has engulfed Libya since its 2011 revolution.

Libya has urged Europe, and particularly Italy, to supply its coastguard with the equipment it says it needs to monitor its southern borders, through which migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan African, enter the country.

More than 50,000 migrants have landed on Italian coasts since the beginning of this year, not counting those rescued in recent days, while more than 1,400 have drowned or are missing, according to the United Nations.

Last year 181,000 migrants entered Europe, 90 percent of whom came via Libya.

Nearly 80 migrants were rescued off Libya's coast on Friday after clinging to their sinking boat for two days, though the bodies of seven people who did not survive were also recovered, officials said.

The 77 migrants, including a woman and one child, were rescued on Thursday off the coastal city of Zawiya in western Libya, Libyan coastguard and International Organisation for Migration (IOM) officials said.

"Seven bodies were recovered near the boat," Qassem said. "According to survivors they stayed for two days holding their boat (which became unseaworthy due to overloading) until they were rescued."

"Some of them are suffering from burns as a result of remaining in the sea and under the sun for a long time. They were given a medical treatment after they were taken on board a coastguard boat."

Some 2,300 migrants were pulled from rubber and wooden boats in international waters between Libya and Italy on Thursday, the Italian coastguard said.

Nearly 6,350 have been intercepted and turned back by the Libyan coastguard in 2017, and over 1,440 have died trying to cross, according to the IOM. At least 34 migrants, many of them young children, drowned on Wednesday.

IOM and the Libyan coastguard have repeatedly been at odds. 

On Tuesday, several NGOs said the Libyan coastguard had boarded a migrant boat, robbing the migrants and firing shots into the air. More than 60 people fell into the water in the ensuing panic, though no one was hurt, they said.

A member of the Libyan coastguard denied that they had fired at or over the migrants, or put them in danger. 

Speaking to MEE on Thursday, he said: "We save people, and it doesn't make sense to commit these crimes, in front of witnesses."