Five dead after migrant dinghy capsizes in Mediterranean

Those on board are reported to have been travelling for two days before the vessel sank

At least five people have died and dozens more have been rescued after a dinghy crowded with migrants capsized in the Mediterranean.

Rescuers dived into the water to help when the boat, which had around 100 people on board, collapsed near Libya.

The charity that operates the humanitarian ship Open Arms said it had carried out the rescue on Wednesday.

The UN says more than 750 people have died in the Mediterranean this year trying to make the journey to Europe.

"The rescue operations are finished, everyone is onboard, but we have five dead," Veronica Alfonsi, a spokeswoman for Open Arms, told AFP news agency.

"Among the survivors, we have two infants and five children, and two pregnant women," she added.

• How the migrant crisis changed Europe

• How the crisis looks five years on

Earlier, the Spanish charity said it had rescued those on board without help from the authorities. "That's what happens when you leave people at sea for days," it wrote on Twitter.

The rubber dinghy sank off the coast of the Libyan town of Sabratha, which is near to the Italian island of Lampedusa.

Italian officials have reported an increase in migrant arrivals from North Africa this year. "The sea conditions are fine right now, and this is the reason why there are so many boats out there," Ms Alfonsi said.

Those on board are reported to have been travelling for two days before the vessel sank. Open Arms said it would ask the Italian authorities to allow the rescued migrants to disembark on Lampedusa.

"We need the governments to set up a new joint sea rescue operation and humanitarian corridors to grant safe routes of movement and escape," Riccardo Gatti, the charity's president, said.

Some 30,800 people have landed on Italy's shores so far this year, compared to around 5,200 in the same period last year, according to official data cited by the Reuters news agency.

Meanwhile, the UN says more than 72,000 people have arrived in Europe by sea in 2020.

Earlier, the Spanish emergency services said more than 1,600 African migrants had reached the Canary Islands or been rescued at sea over the weekend.

The Spanish island chain is just 100km (60 miles) off the coast of North Africa.