Up to 126 refugees and migrants are feared to have drowned in the Mediterranean after Libyan smugglers stole the outboard engine of their dinghy.

The dinghy, which left from a beach on the Libyan coast, was heading north towards Italy when a boatload of traffickers turned up and removed the motor.

Without an engine, waves soon engulfed the dinghy and it sank. It was believed to have been carrying 130 migrants, most of them reportedly Sudanese, when it went down on Friday.

Only four survived – two Nigerians and two Sudanese.

They were eventually picked up by Libyan fishermen, who dropped them off with another dinghy full of migrants, which was eventually rescued at sea by the Italian coast guard.