Italian navy helping migrants (FILE PHOTO)

The UN refugee agency on Wednesday described this year as the deadliest ever for migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, with at least 3,800 people having drowned.

William Spindler, Spokesman for UN refugee agency, announced the grim milestone in Berlin.

Meanwhile, the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity, said more migrant deaths were reported off the Libyan shore on Wednesday.

It said this happened shortly after the European Union’s border and coastguard agency Frontex warned that rescue missions near the troubled North African nation were getting ever more dangerous.

The MSF charity said one of its rescue vessels early Wednesday picked up 25 bodies and 107 survivors from an overcrowded rubber boat some 26 nautical miles off the coast of Libya.

The charity said that a further 139 survivors were on a nearby rubber raft. (dpa/NAN)