At least 50 Europe-bound migrants die off Libyan coast

Amid increasing rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea, the final count put the death toll at 50 in the last 48 hours. More than 4,650 migrants were saved on Tuesday and 28 bodies recovered in more than 30 rescue missions off the Libyan coast, Italy's coast guard said on Wednesday.

Monday was the third anniversary of the sinking of a migrant boat off the Italian island of Lampedusa in which 386 people died. The disaster resulted in Italy's navy launching large-scale search and rescue operations called the EUNAVFOR Med (Naval Force Mediterranean) also known Operation Sophia, a military operation aiming to neutralize established refugee smuggling routes in the Mediterranean. In a report published on Tuesday, Amnesty International accused rich countries of not taking enough people in need of desperate help, saying that poorer countries are overburdened with 86 percent of all refugees currently sheltered in developing countries. Jordan is the country that hosts the most refugees with more than 2.7 million refugees followed by Turkey with over 2.5 million.