The majority arrive here on the Italian island of Lampedusa. Mahrouf is a Bangladeshi migrant worker who was living in Tripoli.

"There is too much fighting all the time, the government and the rebels are at war," said Mahrouf. "People were dying all the time. So I came here to Italy. It took 5 days on the boat. We were all very lucky - the ship smashed on the rocks when we arrived here."

Several hundred refugees and migrants are thought have drowned in the past few months escaping Libya, trying to find a better life.