Bodies Of 50 Migrants Found In Hold Of Boat

The bodies of around 50 migrants have been found in the hold of a boat off Libya, according to the Italian coast guard.

The bodies were discovered during a rescue operation which saved 430 other people.

The Swedish ship Poseidon, working with the EU's Frontex border control agency, had gone to help the people on the boat where the bodies were found.

The rescue was one of 10 requests for assistance that arrived at the coast guard's operations centre today.

Libya-based smugglers have taken advantage of calm seas to send boats overloaded with migrants to Europe.

The deaths add to the more than 2,400 people who have died at sea this year, making the dangerous Mediterranean crossing to Europe.

The latest discovery has a similar toll to the estimated 40 migrants who died off Libya, apparently from fuel fumes, on 15 August.

The captain of the navy ship leading that rescue said his men found the dead "immersed in water, fuel and human excrement".