Thousands of migrants rescued off Libyan coast

More than 5,800 migrants have been rescued and ten bodies recovered off the Libyan coast over the weekend, the Italian coastguard says.

The survivors were picked up from wooden and rubber boats, in 17 separate operations by Italian and French ships.

An Italian ship landed nearly 900 people in Sicily early on Monday, the (BBC) reported.

At least 1,750 people have died this year trying to cross the Mediterranean, a 20-fold increase on the same period in 2014 when 96 people died.

The final number of people rescued over the weekend is expected to rise. The busiest two days for rescues so far this year were April 12 and 13, when 6,500 people were picked up.

Many more migrants are expected to make the crossing in the coming weeks as smugglers take advantage of calmer weather.

In a separate incident on Sunday, three people died when a boat carrying migrants to Europe sank off Egypt's coast, according to Egyptian state media. Thirty-one migrants were reportedly rescued.