In their latest rescue operation, Libya's Coast Guard picked up on Thursday around 96 illegal immigrants who packed themselves on board a small rubber boat hoping to reach Europe.

After receiving a distress call, the coast guards sent a vessel to the spot and pulled the stranded migrants from their overcrowded boat, said the Chief of Staff of the Libyan Naval Forces spokesman Friday.

Those rescued came from African countries, according to the same source, who confirmed that they were safely disembarked at the Tripoli Naval Base.

The migrants were handed over to the Anti-Illegal Migration Agency to undergo the required procedures for their deportation to their countries, per the same source.

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