More than 200 migrants feared dead in Mediterranean

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More than 200 migrants are feared dead after their capsized boats sank off the coast of Libya.

Five bodies were pulled out of the water earlier on Thursday, but aid workers from Spanish organisation Poractiva Open Arms believe at total of 240 people may have been crammed onto the two overturned vessels.

Migrant numbers from North Africa to Italy have soared dramatically in 2017 after the route between Turkey and Greece was effectively cut off.

More than 550 deaths have so far been recorded in the Mediterranean this year.