More than 300 refugees rescued off Italian coast

Italian coastguards have rescued more than 300 refugees fleeing Libya on an overcrowded boat that had been drifting for more than 36 hours.

Three of the refugees - including a pregnant woman - were flown off the boat by helicopter directly to a hospital on the island of Lampedusa, where tens of thousands of African migrant workers from Libya have landed in recent weeks.

It comes after 25 African refugees from Libya apparently suffocated in the engine room of a boat that arrived on Lampedusa on Monday.