Migrants continue to flee Africa

Almost 300,000 migrants have entered Europe so far this year through various transit routes across Africa, Asia or the Middle East.

On Monday night the Italian coastguard rescued around 6,500 migrants off the coast of Libya in one of the biggest operations of its kind to date.

A total of 40 coordinated rescue missions took place about 12 miles off the Libyan town of Sabratha.

Video footage showed migrants cheering and some swimming to rescue vessels, while others carried babies aboard.

On Sunday more than 1,100 migrants were rescued in the same area.

It is estimated more than one million migrants arrived in Europe last year, many of whom were fleeing the civil war in Syria.

In March, the EU struck a deal with Turkey to try to stop migrants crossing from Turkey to Greece while Balkan nations closed their borders to migrants.

As a result, the number of arrivals using the eastern Mediterranean route has fallen.

However, migrants from Eritrea and Somalia and Nigeria and the Gambia are continuing to attempt the crossing from Libya.

Some are seeking economic opportunities in Europe while others are fleeing war, instability or authoritarian governments.

About 106,000 people have arrived in Italy so far this year while 2,726 have died in the attempt.