Pregnant women and children were among dead migrants found in a rubber dinghy as they desperately tried to cross the Mediterranean intoEurope.
A Spanish charity found 167 migrants alive and 13 dead in yet another rescue operation involving rubber boats crossing the deadly stretch of sea.
Most were young people from Cameroon, Sudan, Mali and Senegal, said Libyan navy spokesman General Ayoub Qassem, and were found crammed aboard a makeshift rubber dinghy.
Migrants intercepted or rescued by Libya’s coastguard are usually held in detention centres until they are sent home.
More than 2,200 migrants have died trying to reach Europe across the Mediterranean so far this year according to the International Organization for Migration – meaning on average 10 people a day die making the journey.