Rome: The bodies of at least 50 migrants have been found in the hold of a craft off the Libyan coast, the Italian coast guard said on Wednesday.

The boat was sailing with 439 people on board some 50 km north of the Libyan coast, and received assistance in the early afternoon from Swedish ship Poseidon patrolling the Mediterranean as part of the European Union (EU) rescue mission Triton, a coast guard spokesman told Xinhua.