The Irish naval vessel LE Samuel Beckett has been involved in the rescue of 227 people off the Libyan coast.

At 4.10am Irish time, the ship located an unsafe and unseaworthy craft carrying 108 people 60 kilometres off Tripoli.

The refugees were transferred to a Luxembourg-registered ship, the MV Bourbon Argos.

Just over three hours later, the Samuel Beckett located another vessel, this time a rubber craft, and took 119 people on board.

The LE Samuel Beckett has directly rescued 661 people since its deployment, excluding today's figures.

The LE Eithne and LE Niamh have meanwhile rescued 7,397”‹ people.

With a crew of 59 sailors, the Samuel Beckett is the third naval vessel to be deployed to the area.