MIGRANTS will be processed at sea in a bid to control the crisis on the central Mediterranean, under leaked EU plans.

Leaders want to create a "floating hotspot", a huge naval vessel used a launching pad for search-and-rescue operations for migrants, attempting to reach Italy from Libya and Egypt.

It would have the capacity to hold 1,000 migrants, who would be identified, registered and fingerprinted on-board ship before being taken to Italy.

At present some migrants are escaping proper processing, often as the ships are unable to land in places with the right facilities, allowing them to leave Italy and reach countries in central Europe.

Other countries are only able to return migrants to Italy if they have been registered first.

The plan is contained in a leaked memo from the Dutch presidency of the European Council to national governments.

It warns that the flow over the Med will be as least as high this year as in 2014, with traffic of people through Niger - a key transit route - going up "week by week". "The Central Mediterranean route is re-emerging as the primary source of illegal entry into Europe," it says.

The overwhelming majority of those using the Mediterranean route are Africans, but today the Italian coastguard said it had rescued hundreds of Syrians, suggesting the closure of the Balkan route through Greece is pushing crossings onto far more dangerous waters.