More than 10,000 refugees have been rescued off Libya and Italy in series of operations in the past 48 hours. At least 142,000 migrants have reached Italy since the start of the year and about 3,100 have died making the trip. The vast majority come from African countries including Nigeria, Eritrea, Guinea, Gambia, Sudan, Ivory Coast and Somalia
- WARNING: this gallery includes images that some might find distressing
- More than 10,000 refugees rescued in two days in Mediterranean
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An overloaded inflatable drifts as passengers wait for rescuersPhotograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images
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A woman faints while refugees and migrants wait to be rescued by members of the Proactiva Open Arms NGOPhotograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images
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Thousands of people travelling in vessels such as this one have been rescuedPhotograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images
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A man is helped into one of the Proactiva Open Arms rescue inflatablesPhotograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images
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People waiting to be rescuedPhotograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images
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People struggle to get pulled up into a boatPhotograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images
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A child is pulled out of the water as people wait to be rescued by members of Proactiva Open ArmsPhotograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images
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Refugees and migrants wait to be rescuedPhotograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images
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A mother holds her child after being rescuedPhotograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images
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Migrants wave towards the rescuersPhotograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images
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Migrants crammed into a boat waiting to be rescuedPhotograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images
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A migrant is rescued from the Mediterranean seaPhotograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images
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A child is rescued from a distressed vesselPhotograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images
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This woman has fainted after being rescuedPhotograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images
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Members of Proactiva Open Arms remove a man who died in a stretcher. Many of the vessels were filled with bodies of those who had died on the journeyPhotograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images
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Migrants including a young child wait to be rescuedPhotograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images
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Migrants wave as they wait to be rescued adrift in a boatPhotograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images
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Migrants wait to be rescued as they drift in a boatPhotograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images
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Another vessel awaits rescue as they drift with smoke from a flare in the backgroundPhotograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images
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A full boat waits to be rescued adrift at sunsetPhotograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images