Bodies of migrants recovered off Libya

The bodies of 11 migrants who died off Libya's western coast have been recovered by coastguard officers after an attempted crossing to Italy.

More than 80 migrants survived Sunday's incident off the city of Sabratha, about 70km west of Tripoli, and coastguards brought them back to the nearby city of Zawiya, said naval coastguard spokesman Ayoub Qassem.

The migrants were from various sub-Saharan African countries, he said.

A second boat, carrying 200 migrants including 38 women and one child, was intercepted off Zliten, about 135km east of Tripoli, Qassem said. As well as African migrants, the vessel was carrying Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Indians.

Libya is the most common departure point for migrants trying to reach Europe by sea. More than 600,000 crossed the central Mediterranean to Italy in the past four years, the vast majority from Libya.

Since last July there has been a sharp drop in crossings as Libyan authorities backed by Italy pressured local groups to stop smuggling and supported Libya's coastguard to intercept those who do leave.