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.

The figure is 21 per cent higher than it was in 2016, and went up 8 per cent between May to June.

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

It comes as the Italian government, looking to stem the flow of migrants into the country, draws up a draft code of conduct for NGOs operating in the Mediterranean Sea.

The number of migrants arriving in Italy by boat in the first six months of 2017 was about 85,000 according to Frontex. Pictured: Migrants in the Mediterranean Sea hoping to reach Italy

Pictured: Rescuers help migrants arriving at the port of Porto Empedocle, Agrigento province, in Sicily island, south Italy, 13 July 2017 after 386 migrants from Libya and Morocco landed there

Pictured: A man hugs a rescuer as migrants arrive in Sicily. The amount of people making the journey to Italy has gone up 21 per cent from last year

The NGOs have been blamed for making the migration crisis worse and playing into the hands of smugglers.

According to the plan, if any group refuses to accept the terms, they risk being barred access to Italian ports, meaning they would have to divert to other countries to disembark any migrants.

Among the proposed new rules will be a ban on making phone calls or firing flares that might signal to human traffickers that they could push their migrant boats out to sea.

Frontex also stated that there were 30,700 illegal border crossings detected in June across the main four migration routes (Greece, Italy, Spain and the Balkans) into Europe.

Pictured: Hundreds of migrants arrive in Palermo, Sicily last year on the Norwegian vessel Siem Pilot, which was working under the authority of the EU border force Frontex

Pictured: Migrants, most of them from Eritrea, jump into the water from a crowded wooden boat as they are helped by members of an NGO during a rescue operation at the Mediterranean sea

There were 116,000 illegal crossings detected in the first six months of this year, down on figures from last year but higher in Spain and Italy than 2016.

In Spain, the number of illegal crossings made by migrants nearly tripled on 2016 figures.

There were more than 9,000 attempted crossings made, with a large increase in people trying to cross by land from Morocco into the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melila.

In Greece, however, the number of illegal crossings has fallen by 94 per cent, with 9,000 getting into the country in the first half of 2017.

But the amount of illegal border crossings at Greece’s land border with Turkey rose significantly.

Syrians, Pakistanis and Iraqis accounted for the majority of people using the Eastern Mediterranean route.