The migrants (pictured) were buried by local people on the beach. They were later exhumed by the Libyan Red Cross and will get a proper burial at a cemetery in the town of Sabratah

People-smugglers have been blamed for the death of 22 African migrants whose bodies were found buried on a beach in Libya.

The migrants had apparently refused to board the traffickers’ boat, which was attempting to sail from the beach at Sabratah, 45 miles west of Tripoli, to Italy or Malta.

They were killed by the traffickers when they complained about the bad weather and the risks of making the hazardous journey across the Mediterranean

The Libyan Red Crescent said the killings took place over the weekend.

The Geneva-based International Organization for Migration (IOM) confirmed the deaths and said: ‘There seems to have been an exchange of fire between the smugglers, which resulted in the death of 22 migrants.’

Six years since a revolution and NATO intervention that toppled the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, Libya has become a key departure point for clandestine migration to Europe.

Smugglers organise frequent crossings from western Libya to the Italian island of Lampedusa, a 190-mile trip.

The IOM said 521 immigrants died in the Mediterranean between January 1 and March 5 this year.

European Union leaders will tomorrow discuss their plan to cut the tide of migrants from Libya to Italy but there are fears the calmer spring weather will bring a new surge of arrivals from Africa.

Arrival numbers from lawless Libya are already higher than last year – 13,500 people made the perilous voyage in January and February, compared with 9,000 in 2016.