The EU is limiting the sale of inflatable boats and outboard motors to Libya in an effort to stop dangerous migrant smuggling across the Mediterranean.

Foreign ministers agreed to allow member countries to ban such export or supply 'where there are reasonable grounds to believe that they will be used by people smugglers and human traffickers'.

A statement said the measure will also apply to boats and motors transiting through the EU - though not to fishermen or others with legitimate need for them.

The EU is limiting the sale of inflatable boats and outboard motors to Libya in an effort to stop dangerous migrant trafficking across the Mediterranean

Foreign ministers agreed to allow member countries to ban such export or supply 'where there are reasonable grounds to believe that they will be used by people smugglers'

The foreign ministers also agreed to extend a border aid mission in Libya through the end of 2018 that helps Libyan security forces, notably in the lawless south.

Last week, a senior EU envoy urged Beijing to restrict the sale of inflatable dinghies that he said are used by trafficking gangs to carry migrants on treacherous sea journeys to Europe.

Around 1.4million refugees and migrants have made their way to Europe since 2015, many of whom are fleeing Syria's bloody civil war, in the biggest wave of migration the continent has seen since World War II.

Thousands have died, often while attempting to cross the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas in flimsy rubber boats.

Last year Italian coastguard vessels recovered more than a thousand such crafts, each with an average of 122 passengers.

Last week, a senior EU envoy urged Beijing to restrict the sale of inflatable dinghies

And migrant crossings from Libya to Italy on unsafe boats have climbed in recent weeks.

The number of migrants arriving in Italy by boat in the first six months of 2017 was about 85,000, EU border agency Frontex has announced.

Most of the migrants came on boats from Libya, with 24,800 alone coming in June.

More than 1,000 migrants are thought to have died in waters between the two nations, according to the International Organization for Migration.

The figure is 21 per cent higher than it was in 2016, and went up eight per cent between May to June.

Most of the arrivals were from either Guinea and Nigeria, followed by people from Ivory Coast and Bangladesh.

The number of migrants arriving in Italy by boat in the first six months of 2017 was about 85,000