The bodies of at least 18 migrants, who died when their boat capsized west of Libya's capital, Tripoli, were recovered while over 90 survivors were rescued, a local Red Crescent branch said on Tuesday.

The Red Crescent in Sabratha, a coastal town some 76 km (47 miles) west of Tripoli, said it had received a report of the capsized boat late on Monday and carried out a rescue operation until early Tuesday morning.

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The bodies were recovered from the shore near the port of Surman, it said.

Pictures posted by the branch showed Red Crescent volunteers carrying the bodies and placing them in white plastic bags before loading them into the back of an ambulance as other rescue workers provided first aid to the survivors.

Earlier this month, a health ministry-run medical centre said the bodies of at least 61 migrants were recovered by medics over a two-week period in the coastal area between the Libyan towns of Zuwara and Ras Ijdir, near the border with Tunisia.

Since the fall of dictator Muammar Gaddafi during a NATO-backed uprising in 2011, Libya has become a transit route for migrants fleeing conflict and poverty to Europe across the Mediterranean.