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DAILYEXPRESS

They are among the masses of victims of ongoing troubles in Libya who are fleeing across the Mediterranean in packed-out, dangerous dinghies.

Thousands of people, mostly victims of atrocious crimes, are being rescued every week, with record numbers expected in 2017.

European Union officials have made a push to stop the flow of migrants by controversially funding and training the officially recognised Libyan coastguard, under plans to spend 78m on the issue.

The move has been branded dangerous by charities in the Mediterranean who have heard first-hand how bad life is in the country.

It was very hard. Every day I tried because you cannot even sleep

Kelly

Express.co.uk has spoken to victims in boats in Mediterranean but is not giving their real names for fear of reprisals.

One woman, Sally, who was aboard the Golfo Azzurro run by Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms, broke down as she recounted how she was gang raped by police officers in Sudan.

The 31-year-old was dragged off a bus with three other women, pinned down at the side of the road and raped by more than a dozen officers.

Now, Sally is carrying his child.

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Another woman, Kelly, aged 24, from Nigeria, is one of many women who was promised work and passage through Libya, but was captured and sold to an Arab family who tortured her on a daily basis.

Once top of her class at school she ended up being locked in a cupboard, sleeping on the floor with dogs and working 20 hours per day for no money.

The Nigerian woman fled her home after Boko Haram terrorists shot her sister dead.

She was kidnapped after leaving Abudja and told since she could not pay for release she would be a slave for five years.

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Babies were among the 389 rescued

As well as emotional damage she has a horrendous scar in the shape of an iron after it was held on her leg by the family who took her.

Kelly said: It was very hard. Every day I tried because you cannot even sleep.

"They will beat you and they tied me up with my hands and legs so I could not run away.

"One day I said to the woman I want to leave - if she wants to kill me then she can.

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"She called her daughter and they both tied me up. She plugged in an iron and they burnt my body.

They liked to beat us and to see us cry it made them very happy.

"Then after they burnt me they told me to leave.

"I ended up sleeping on the streets."

While sleeping on the streets the woman was raped and now is now pregnant with her rapists baby.

Like many others, Kelly believes asylum in Europe is her best chance of a new start.

Men accompanying them on the perilous journey between Tripoli and Italian shores have equally harrowing stories to tell.

Sophisticated smuggling rings have been offering work in Libya to young men who struggle to find employment in African nations.

Fred, 18, from Nigeria was taken to a farm where his two friends were beaten to death in front of him.

He said: If you trust someone they can take you and they will sell you.

"You work for no money. It is the hardest life. Libya is a bad, bad place."

Despite repeated testimonies from immigrants to the European shores, the 28-member state bloc has continued to push for more co-operation with the recognised government in the country.

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Militias, gangs, smugglers and corrupted officials have been allegedly actively involved in the sale of human life and torture.

Yet, in February the EU backed the Malta declaration which set out plans to stop migrants leaving Libya.

Those who reach EU borders claim being sent back would be a death sentence as they will be forced to return into the arms of their captors.

Yet the EU has set asylum targets which it is trying, and failing, to stick to.

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Gang rape, slave markets and mass kidnapping: The TRUTH about EU-funded Libya - Express.co.uk