22 migrants including 3 children from Mali have died after their boat developed some problems off the Libyan coast.

The Malian government said they were part of a group of more than 80 migrants who had been stuck on their distressed vessel for the last two weeks.

Sixty-one people were however rescued from the boat with the help of the United Nations' migration agency.

A spokesperson for the agency said there has been a significant increase in the flow of migration through Niger and Mali towards North Africa in the first quarter of this year.