By Fatih Erel

GENEVA (AA): A total of 204 migrants died at sea off Libya this weekend while the total number of migrants who drowned in the Mediterranean Sea so far this year has crossed over 1,000, according to the UN migration agency, IOM, on Sunday.

“From Friday to Sunday, close to 1,000 migrants were returned to Libyan shore by the Libyan Coast Guard, who intercepted small crafts as they made their way towards the open sea,” IOM said in a statement.

A small rubber boat packed with migrants had capsized off east of Tripoli; an estimated 41 people were rescued, IOM said.

Three babies were among 103 migrants who died in a shipwreck on Friday.

“There is an alarming increase in deaths at sea off Libya Coast,” IOM Libya Chief of Mission Othman Belbeisi said.

According to IOM, about 45,000 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea since the beginning of this year.

[Archive Photo: Some of the migrants rescued by Libya in June 2015. Photographer: Hazem Turkia/AA]