Cage fighters are risking their lives by taking extreme weight-loss measures before fights, according to academics.

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is one of the fastest-growing and most controversial sports in the world.
A UK-based study has found some competitors are dehydrating themselves to dangerous levels.
The International Mixed Martial Arts Federation said work is being done to educate fighters on how to manage their weight safely.
The sport, which combines techniques from wrestling and martial arts, is banned in France, but attracts millions of television viewers across the globe.
It is becoming increasingly popular in the UK and Ireland as a result of high profile stars such as Dublin's Conor McGregor.
As a combat sport, those who take part say they know and accept the risk of injury in the cage as a result of blows to the body and head.
But Ben Crighton from Liverpool Moores University's School of Sport and Exercise Sciences says many are risking their lives before they even get into the cage by severely dehydrating themselves in order to meet strict weight limits.
Severe dehydration can cause kidney failure and other health problems. In extreme cases it can be fatal. Medical research has also shown it can increase the risk of brain injury during a fight.
Mr Crighton interviewed 30 professional UK fighters and 75 UK and European amateurs as part of two research projects looking at weight loss in the sport.
He said he had found "alarming weight cutting behaviour in Mixed Martial Arts."
"Such losses are greater than in other combat sports, likely due to the requirement to possess higher lean mass for grappling and the significant time between weigh-in and competition."
MMA fighters are generally weighed 24 hours before a bout, with many dehydrating themselves to lose weight in the hope that they can then rehydrate before the fight the following day.
In recent years a number of fighters have become ill or have died from complications associated with severe dehydration.
In September 2013 Leandro Souza, 26, from Brazil died after reportedly attempting to lose 20% of his body mass in seven days. Chinese fighter, 21-year-old Yang Jian Bing, died before a fight in December 2015 after suffering extreme dehydration trying to meet the weight limit.
Mr Crighton said a limited number of weight categories in MMA meant that fighters had to lose more weight than boxers to drop a classification.
He found professional fighters were losing the biggest amount of weight, with one fighter losing 7.4kg -  nearly 11% of his body weight - in the 24 hours before a fight.
He found only 20% of professional fighters took advice from qualified nutritionists, with many using techniques they'd found out about on the internet, such as sitting in a sauna or hot bath for long periods of time, and starving themselves.
Nearly 70% of the professionals he spoke to said they'd engaged in water loading, which involves drinking excessive amounts of water to force the body to expel it.
And 17% said they'd taken prescription or over-the-counter diuretics.
The study found 61% admitted taking supplements without knowing whether they contained banned substances or not. Others said they had used intravenous lines to rehydrate themselves after being weighed.
Amateurs reported losing up to 10kg in the week before a fight and up to 7kg in the 24 hours before, with some saying they had shed weight 20 times in a year.
Nearly 10% exhibited the classic signs of having an eating disorder.
In February this year Dhafir Harris, whose fighting name is Dada 5000, suffered renal failure and two heart attacks during a fight after losing 25% of his body weight.
He told 5live Investigates he had to undergo months of dialysis and treatment to help him recover.
"I wouldn't wish the last couple of months of my life on anybody."
The BBC also spoke to an amateur MMA fighter who said he suffered kidney damage after losing weight for a fight. As a result, he was forced to retire from the sport on the advice of his doctor.
Joe Neill said: "I'd water load, I'd drink eight litres, then six, then 24 hours before weigh-in I'd drink one litre and then nothing. Then you get in the sauna and a hot bath and you sweat the rest of the weight off.
"As I was cutting weight I was struggling. I had to be placed back into the bath because I was so weak. I weighed-in for the next day but I lost that fight.
"After that I started getting pains in my side. I went to the doctors. They said my kidney function was down.
"When I explained the process of cutting weight, they were hugely concerned by that and said I had to stop. That scared me, to be honest.
"You are basically sweating yourself to the edge of death.
"There is always that risk that someone will lose their life. No-one thinks it's going to be them. It's ridiculous what I was doing."
As a relatively new sport in the UK and Ireland there is no regulatory body to ensure businesses, or promoters who organise MMA fights, take measures to safeguard the welfare of competitors, although big promoters say they do take safety very seriously.
In a bid to address safety concerns, a voluntary organisation, Safe MMA, was set up by fighters, business people, industry experts and doctors.
The organisation works closely with the International and UK Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF), which represents those involved in all aspects of the sport.
A spokeswoman for IMMAF said: "Extreme weight-cutting practices are a concern in MMA and are strongly condemned as a dangerous risk to athletes by IMMAF and its medical committee."
She said those taking part in IMMAF-approved or organised amateur tournament events taking place over a series of days were encouraged to compete at their "walk around" weight. She said they were also weighed more frequently and closer to the fight and had to pass medical examinations before and after each fight.
She added IMMAF was proposing to introduce a mandatory online educational course on weight-cutting risks, to be included in the online registration application form for IMMAF competitions.
She said the organisation would not oppose the introduction of more weight categories in the sport if it could be shown that it would reduce extreme weight-cutting.
Bellator, which organised Dada 5000's fight, is one of the biggest companies involved in MMA.
A spokesman said the company prided itself on looking after the safety of athletes, funded brain health research and insisted all fighters passed a number of medical tests before competing.
5 live Investigates is on BBC 5 live on Sunday 8 May at 11:00 BST. Listen online or download the programme podcast.


Hull defender Curtis Davies is fit after a hamstring injury and could feature for the first time since the end of January.

But Evandro will miss a third consecutive game with a calf strain.
Swansea full-back Kyle Naughton is sidelined with a hamstring injury so Angel Rangel is likely to deputise.
Jefferson Montero and Ki Sung-yueng are set to return to the squad after hamstring and knee injuries respectively.
Alistair Mann: "Since getting new managers just days apart in early January, these two sides have made the encouraging improvements those appointments were designed to provoke.
"That said, while Paul Clement has steered Swansea some five points clear of the drop zone, Marco Silva's Hull still remain embedded within it.
"The Tigers still have to face the four sides immediately around them in the table, three of which - perhaps crucially - are at home, beginning with the visit of the Swans.
"Having taken seven of his eight points so far at the KCOM Stadium, Silva will be acutely aware of the potentially irreversible damage a defeat this weekend would inflict."
Twitter: @AlistairMann01
Hull head coach Marco Silva: "The last two games against them were two wins for us, but the next game is the most important. We need to win.
"We still have six games at home, and three over the next four weeks. We feel good when we play at home."
Swansea head coach Paul Clement: "The first thing is we go there to try and win the game. But if we don't it is very important not to lose based on the gap of points between us and them. A point there would not be a bad result.
"I have watched their games and they were ahead against Leicester, but they probably played them at a bad time compared to when we played them.
"They also lost against Chelsea and Arsenal, but I thought they played very well in both those games."
Swansea look like a different team under Paul Clement, in attack as well as defence.
Hull also improved when Marco Silva took over, but they have started to plateau a little bit and they are still in deep trouble at the bottom of the table.
I am going to back the Tigers to get something here, though.
Prediction: 1-1
Lawro's full predictions v Chelsea Fan TV and Full Time Devils
Head-to-head
Hull City
Swansea City
SAM (Sports Analytics Machine) is a super-computer created by @ProfIanMcHale at the University of Salford that is used to predict the outcome of football matches.


Two men have been remanded in custody over the theft of a fire engine in County Antrim.

The engine was driven from Larne fire station at about 04:00 GMT on Saturday and crashed into cars and houses a short time later.
Robert Duffin, 66, from Green Link in Larne, appeared at Coleraine Magistrates' Court on Monday facing five charges linked to the incident.
Ross Clarke, 19, from Fairway in Larne, also appeared, accused of 14 offences.
He faces charges including burglary, aggravated vehicle taking, causing damage and various motoring offences.
The pair were remanded in custody to appear again on Thursday at Ballymena Magistrates' Court, when it is expected a bail application will be made.


Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron has welcomed Kirsty Williams's plan to be education secretary in an otherwise all Labour Welsh Government.

Mr Farron said she would "retain her independence" and aim to make education in Wales "markedly better" then in the rest of the UK.
Ms Williams's appointment is subject to a vote of Welsh Lib Dem members at a special conference on Saturday.
She has said she is not taking party support on the matter for granted.
The AM for Brecon and Radnorshire, who boosted her majority over the Conservatives at the assembly election to more than 8,000, was named by First Minister Carwyn Jones on Thursday as part of an eight-member cabinet.
Speaking on BBC Radio Wales' Good Morning Wales programme on Friday, Mr Farron said Ms Williams's cabinet role would be "great news for education in Wales".
"Kirsty has that great strength of somebody with great experience of education, the mother of three children who are in Welsh state schools, and somebody who's very committed to making a difference."
Mr Farron said he was "very impressed" with the "hard achievements" the Liberal Democrats would get out of the agreement with Labour.
"But my aim is, and Kirsty's aim will be, that education in Wales will be markedly better than anywhere else in the United Kingdom because of Kirsty and the Liberal Democrats' involvement in this administration."
Asked if she was confident of getting her party's support, the former Welsh Lib Dem leader said: "I never take anything for granted in politics.
"The great thing about being a member of the Welsh Liberal Democrats [is that] it's not up to individuals to make these choices.
"Every single member of our party will have an opportunity to have their say and have a vote on this decision."
Ms Williams denied her appointment would effectively mean her party ceased to exist in the assembly.
"It exists with a cabinet minister, hopefully subject to the party agreement, being able to implement Welsh Liberal Democrat policies and influencing the agenda," she said.
"That's a lot stronger than being a single assembly member on a backbench."
Ms Williams said she would never leave her party, and did not think Labour, Plaid and the Welsh Liberal Democrats should merge or have a formal relationship.
"There are different traditions and political strands that are represented by each of the parties.
"What is important is that we look to work where we can together and recognise that the way in which politics happens in Wales is changing.
"It isn't about one single party driving home their manifesto without due reference to other voices."
The deal between Ms Williams and Labour agrees a list of nine common priorities which include pledges from the Welsh Lib Dem election manifesto, such as:
It also calls for the upcoming recommendations of the Diamond Review into student finance to be considered "with a view to early implementation where appropriate" but with no "negative effect" on the higher education budget.
The Lib Dem tuition fee policy at the election was to end tuition fee support grants that students currently get. The party proposed to replace it with a student living support grant funded by the other grant's withdrawal - but this is not written into the agreement.
Ms Williams was the only opposition AM to back Mr Jones in the first deadlocked vote for first minister - despite Plaid Cymru, the Conservatives and UKIP supporting Plaid leader Leanne Wood.
Mr Jones was later reinstated after he came to an agreement with Plaid Cymru - although no members of that party were appointed to his cabinet.
Plaid Cymru AM Adam Price said it is unlikely all the policies in the agreement between Ms Williams and Welsh Labour will get support of parties outside the government.
He said on Twitter: "Important to note these policies will need opposition support to be implemented. Unlikely that all will succeed."
The senior Plaid figure also questioned the Lib Dems' pledge in the agreement to reduce infant class sizes to 25.
He said that "most evidence suggests you need to reduce to 15 to have any real effect. Reducing to 25 is costly but ineffective".
Meanwhile UKIP group leader Neil Hamilton said Ms Williams should resign her seat and seek a fresh mandate in a by-election.
He said: "When UKIP's Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless left their old parties, they did the honourable thing and went back to their electors at a by-election to seek a new mandate to represent them.
"Kirsty is now duty bound to support Labour 100% over this five-year assembly term.
"I call on her to take the same honourable course and seek a fresh mandate from her constituents because, in all but name, she has now become a Labour AM."


Apple has filed a complaint against Swatch in a Swiss court over the use of the phrase Tick Different in a marketing campaign.

Swatch is using the slogan to market a wristwatch containing a contactless payment chip.
Apple says the phrase unfairly references its Think Different campaign, which ran in the 1990s.
According to Swiss news site Watson, Swatch chief executive Nick Hayek said the similarity was purely coincidental.
He said the slogan was a nod to one of its own campaigns from the 1980s: "Always different, always new."
Apple used Think Different in its adverts from 1997 to 2002, in what was thought to be a response to IBM's Think ad campaign.
A 1998 television advert, featuring black-and-white images of historical figures such as Einstein and Gandhi, won an Emmy.
In the complaint to the Swiss Federal Administrative Court, Apple's lawyers Lenz & Staehelin said the tagline was long considered "the core of the Apple brand".
Legal experts say that, to win the case, Apple must show that Swatch's use of the phrase Tick Different provokes an association with Apple products in the minds of at least 50% of consumers.
A similar complaint lodged at the same time with the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property was rejected.
Swatch was granted trademark status for the phrase Tick Different in the US in 2015. It also has the trademark for the slogan in Switzerland.
This is not the first time the two companies have clashed.
In September last year, the UK Intellectual Property Office upheld Swatch's opposition to Apple's efforts to trademark "iWatch" in the UK.
It ruled that the term was too close to "iSwatch" and "Swatch".


British astronaut Tim Peake has given a first-hand account of his time on the International Space Station to an audience in Glasgow.

The Glasgow Science Centre streamed the event to screens across the building after tickets to see the astronaut sold out in just 23 minutes.
Mr Peake spent six months in space on the Principia mission and became the first UK astronaut to go on a spacewalk.
He returned to Earth on 18 June.
During his space mission, Mr Peake ran science experiments for researchers from all over the planet - including trying to grow blood vessels and protein crystals.
He also used a furnace to melt and cool metal alloys as they floated in mid-air.
The Glasgow Science Centre said the astronaut wanted his mission to inspire people - especially children - to develop their interest in science.


England's Reanne Evans won the Ladies' World Snooker Championship for the 11th time in 12 years with a 6-4 victory over defending champion Ng On Yee.

Evans had won a record 10 successive titles before Hong Kong's Ng, 25, beat her in the semi-finals in 2015.
The 30-year-old's win at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds will likely secure an invite to qualifying for next year's men's World Championship.
"I'm over the moon and glad to win the title back," she said.
"There was more pressure on Ng this year as defending champion. I struggled a bit but I stuck in there."
Last year, Evans lost 10-8 to 1997 world champion Ken Doherty in the first qualifying round for the World Championship, as she looked to become the first woman to reach the main draw.
Ng will this week face Peter Lines in her opening-round qualifier at Ponds Forge in Sheffield.


Anyone who's ever watched a rock biopic knows the music industry can be a strange and intimidating place, even for the strongest of personalities.

So imagine what it's been like for Banks, a performer who used to suffer such severe stage fright she would sing with her back turned to the audience.
The Californian musician, whose full name is Jillian Banks, first came to attention in 2013 with her London EP - a collection of brooding, vulnerable R&B that earned her a spot on the BBC's Sound of 2014 list.
Her debut album, Goddess, reached the top 20 on both sides of the Atlantic, but the star quickly found fame stressful and frustrating.
"I had to learn how to talk to people and tell them what I wanted," she says, "But I felt people weren't listening. I felt really helpless sometimes."
Things came to a head when she took her music on the road.
"The first tour I went on, the guitarist slammed a door in my face. That would never happen now. If somebody treated me like that, they'd be out five minutes later."
The singer's metamorphosis from wallflower to self-professed "bad mother" is documented on her new album, The Altar.
"Do you see me now?" she demands on Mind Games, while on Weaker Girl, she chastises a lover who can't handle "the way I grew strong".
"You have to have that mentality in order to survive," she says. "Not only in this business, in life. You can't be like a feather blowing in every direction the wind takes you."
On the phone from Paris, she explains The Altar's backstory and why she keeps a replica of her severed head in a box.
Good afternoon, Banks. How is Paris?
I love it. I wish I could see more of it today.
Is there a country you've fallen in love with while you've been on tour?
I love Switzerland. I played the Montreux Jazz Festival and that was one of my favourite places.
But also - I don't know if this sounds funny - but when I saw more of America, I realised how different every city was. I always had this idea that Europe would be more exciting to me, which it was, but places like Boston and Seattle and Houston were just as exciting.
The Altar is out this week. Is it nerve-wracking to find out what fans think?
Yeah, it is. I feel different about it every 20 minutes.
It feels like a much more confident record. Did you feel emboldened by the success of your debut album?
No! I think I'm very introverted, first of all, so this business was very overwhelming. I was nervous to be around so many different people.
I mean, I don't think anybody knows how to tell 50 people on a video set that they want to make changes, especially when they're young.  But I felt, for the first time, like people weren't giving me the respect that I deserved.
And when I went into this album, I was feeling the after-effects of that frustration. I had this need to feel empowered. I needed to let go of that person who was afraid to say what she wanted.
The videos for this album have certainly been uncompromising. In F With Myself, you're abusing a mannequin that's been made in your likeness.
That was the most fun I've ever had on a video set! It represented exactly what that song means to me. I can be my own biggest bully - like, I'm chronically unsatisfied - but I've had to learn, especially over the last two years, to be my own biggest ally.
Deciding I wanted to make a prosthetic form of myself and interact with it, it took confidence to say that out loud, even.
It's one of those ideas that, I assume, sounded really good on paper - but turned out to be quite bizarre in real life.
It was weird! You only ever see a mirror image of yourself, so it was strange to see myself in 3D. But it was kind of therapeutic - especially hitting my own face, because it made me want to be really nice to myself. It was like seeing physically what I do to myself mentally sometimes.
What have you done with the head now?
I have it still. It smells weird because we lit it on fire, so I keep it in a box. But it's still mine!
You should get it out at Halloween and scare some trick or treaters to death.
Oh God! That's such a good idea. My mum hated that video, because she hated  seeing me slap my face around. But that means it's good, if your mum doesn't like something.
What about you? How do you feel about the songs now they're finished? Are they hard to listen to objectively?
Yeah, because it's like reading your own diary entries from the past: Nobody does that.
When I'm thinking about a concept for a video, I love going on long walks and listening to the song on a loop. But I would never normally go on a walk and, just for fun, listen to a song like To The Hilt.
To The Hilt is especially raw, though. In the lyrics, you describe how breaking up with your muse left you "drained creatively". Was it hard to record?
It was hard to write, but I'm happy I did and I felt deeply relieved that I got it out of my system.
The vocal is very unguarded.
I recorded it with  (British producer) SOHN and I did it twice all the way through, then I told him I wouldn't do it any more. So I think it's the first or second take. It was super draining.
You've spoken quite openly about how you suffered from depression while making this album. How did it affect your writing?
I've struggled with depression since I was younger. It's just how I was wired - but it's not all the time. It usually hits me right before I give birth to something new.
On this occasion, it was letting go and becoming this new version of myself. It's like the universe's way of pulling you backwards almost, and you have to fight to move forward.
Like emerging from a cocoon?
That's exactly what it is. The two years before I made this album, I felt the weight of learning to accept myself as a woman and an adult in this strange society that sometimes makes women feel less powerful than they should.
And I don't just write when I'm sad, by the way. Lovesick is a song about falling in love really hard, and it's very uplifting. And This Is Not About Us is a really empowering song.
You're part of a wave of female artists - from Beyonce and Grimes to Tove Lo - who are unapologetic about the strength they derive from their femininity. Do you talk to other artists about that?
I actually just emailed Feist because we have a mutual friend who thought we would get along. And I met Tove Lo at a festival in Toronto. She was standing side stage, singing all my lyrics. I just thought that was so cool, because for women to support each other and not feel competitive is so important. I already was a fan of her music and everything she stands for. It made me love her 10 times more.
I heard you wrote the verses to Trainwreck when you were 14. Most people would cringe at their teenage poetryâ€¦
It's funny. I actually recently found this old computer of mine that I had when I was young. It had this weird app on it where I could videotape myself, and I listened back to some of the songs and I was like, "Some of these melodies are really good. I want to mess with them more."
The Altar is out now on Virgin EMI / Harvest Records.
Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram at bbcnewsents, or if you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.


A man who died in a Stoke-on-Trent club has been named.

Matthew McSheffery, 29, from Sutton Coldfield, was found unconscious in the Individual Bar, Trinity Street, Hanley, at about 01:00 BST on Saturday.
Emergency services attended the scene, but he died in hospital.
Seven people arrested on suspicion of affray after an incident at the club were released on bail. The club said Mr McSheffery was not involved in any confrontation.
"The venue has provided full support and assistance to the police on what is an ongoing investigation," the club said in a statement on its Facebook page.
The statement thanked the police and ambulance services for their response and offered the club's condolences to Mr McSheffery's family.
Staffordshire Police confirmed the death was being treated as unexplained. The force is appealing for anyone with any information to come forward.


King George IV's only known surviving grand piano has been returned to Brighton's Royal Pavilion after being bought at auction for Â£62,000.

The king commissioned the piano for the palace from renowned maker Thomas Tomkison in about 1821.
The instrument displays the flamboyant taste Tomkison shared with the king.
It was bought by Brighton and Hove City Council with funding from Arts Council England and the Victoria and Albert Museum,
The piano is thought to have been removed from the Pavilion by Queen Victoria after she ascended the throne in 1837.
However, its whereabouts for many years are unknown and it is thought to have held in private collections.
A Brighton Pavilion spokeswoman described the instrument as "an elegant rosewood grand, extravagantly decorated, inlaid with brass, gilt mouldings and gilt turnbuckles, with elegantly carved legs".
Councillor Alan Robins said: "King George's piano has long been on a wish list of desirable assets for the Royal Pavilion and so we're thrilled to have brought it back to its rightful home.
"The piano is playable but as it's been dormant for 20 years will need some restoration. It would be amazing to be able to hear music of the period played on it."


Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo might have been "angry" with his recent form before his hat-trick in Saturday's 4-1 win at Alaves, says team-mate Marcelo.

Ronaldo had scored twice in his six La Liga matches before the Alaves game, in which he also missed a penalty.
"Cristiano is fine. Perhaps he was a bit angry before because forwards live to score goals," said left-back Marcelo, who was captain on Saturday.
"He's happy with the goals but more so with the three points."
Coach Zinedine Zidane said: "It's great that Cristiano Ronaldo scored, and that he did so three times is even better. We are happy with his performance.
"We are always going to ask that he scores goals but he was good in every aspect. Let's hope it stays that way. He has a lot of patience and showed today that with hard work anything is possible."
Real are top of La Liga, two points above Barcelona and another clear of Atletico Madrid and Sevilla.


Foreign Secretary William Hague has urged Col Muammar Gaddafi to tell his supporters to stop fighting, saying their numbers are "dwindling".

Mr Hague said he did not know where the Libyan leader was, but he had been "clearly rejected" by his own people.
While opposition forces control large parts of Tripoli, there are reports of gun battles with regime loyalists.
The UK and France have invited Libya's opposition political authority to an international conference next week.
Britain is also talking to humanitarian agencies about how to get emergency medical supplies into Tripoli.
Aid groups have warned that the city's hospitals and medical centres have been "overwhelmed with casualties" and that medicine and fuel supplies are running low.
The United Nations' envoy in Tripoli has said that opposition forces now control the vast majority of the capital, but there are reports of pockets of resistance from pro-Gaddafi forces.
Rebel forces say they expect to detain Col Gaddafi soon, but he has urged forces loyal to him to continue fighting to "cleanse the city".
After chairing a meeting of the National Security Council meeting - the third to be held in consecutive days over Libya - Mr Hague urged Col Gaddafi to stop making "delusional statements".
He said Col Gaddafi should accept the fact that he had "lost control" of most of Tripoli and large parts of Libya and would not be able to regain it.
"There is a clear, fundamental, decisive rejection of that regime by the people of Libya," he said.
Rebels fighting Gaddafi loyalistsFletcher mother's new hope
"He [Col Gaddafi] should be telling his dwindling and remaining forces now to stand down."
He said the government remained "actively engaged" in both military and humanitarian efforts in Libya as well as United Nations moves to unfreeze Â£12bn Libyan assets in the UK held withheld since the conflict began.
Downing Street said David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy had invited Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) to attend a conference on the country's future in Paris next week.
"This will be an opportunity for the NTC to set out how the international community can help them on the path to establishing a free, democratic and inclusive Libya and for all those who wish to support Libya to discuss the role that they can play to support this," a Number 10 spokesman said.
As fighting continued in Tripoli, BBC journalists confined for days in a Tripoli hotel by armed guards loyal to the Gaddafi regime were released after representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross arranged for them to leave.
Those freed from the Hotel Rixos also included a US congressman and an Indian MP.
But amid concerns for the safety of the small number of British nationals still in Tripoli, it emerged that a Maltese vessel which the Foreign Office suggested that Britons could use to leave the capital had not reached its intended destination, instead returning to Malta.
The Maltese authorities said it was not considered "safe enough" to transfer passengers from the city centre to the port.
The UK government has advised all Britons still in Libya to leave the country immediately.
Security experts said they expected there to be continued attacks from remnants of the regime over the coming days and weeks amid fears of reprisals should pro-Gaddafi forces lay down their arms.
For Labour, shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander said it was clear the days of Gaddafi rule were over and that he was "on the run".
But he said there was a lot of work to be done to bring stability to the country, to disarm combatants and to ensure the Libyan people could get access to basic amenities.
"Taking a city is not the same as running a city," he told the BBC.
"The National Transitional Council faces an important and significant challenge in translating a popular uprising into stable government for Libya."
Mr Alexander said the UK could play a role in supporting what he said must be a Libyan-led process in developing new constitutional arrangements for the country.
Nato has said its military operations will continue until all pro-Gaddafi forces surrender.
The UK has taken a lead role in five months of strikes against the apparatus of the Gaddafi regime, in accordance with a UN mandate to protect Libyan civilians.
The UK has also been providing logistical advice and training to the anti-Gaddafi forces but has effectively ruled out sending in ground troops as part of a transition to a new government.
The only Conservative MP to vote against military intervention in Libya has continued to question the motives behind the campaign.
John Baron described the action as the "longest assassination attempt in history" and said he remained concerned that successors to the Gaddafi regime might not prove committed to democracy.


If you're a regular on Snapchat, you'll have seen a pretty cheery clip introducing the Discover update.

But while being described as "a new way to explore stories" it also rearranges the app's menu and removes the ability to see other people's "best friends".
Despite Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel tweeting "we'll bring back BFs soon," some users are still a bit cross.
Unsurprisingly it seems Snapchatters like a good nosy around who their mates have been chatting to.
Explaining why the feature disappeared, Evan Spiegel added: "A few higher-profile friends wanted to keep their usernames private - we'll come up with a better way to do that."
Snapchat's best friends feature allowed users to view the top three people their contacts were interacting with.
The list was determined by the number of times you exchanged messages with a particular friend and couldn't be manually controlled.
It was the only way of knowing anything about how other contacts were interacting on the app.
However, some users backed the Discover update, which has seen Snapchat partner with media companies to feature videos and news articles on the app.
But others quickly forgot about their beloved best friends lists when they realised the app includes way more sloths now.
After 24 hours the stories disappear, in keeping with Snapchat's trademark feature of private messages that disappear a few seconds after they are viewed by users of the service.
Snapchat, which reportedly turned down a $3bn (Â£1.2bn) buy out offer from Facebook, it thought to have been valued has been valued at $10bn (Â£6.2bn).
The addition of news and entertainment content is the latest expansion for LA-based app and follows the launch of an online payments service in November.
Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter, BBCNewsbeat on Instagram and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube


Barnsley climbed back into the play-off places as two second-half goals gave them victory at Fleetwood.

Tykes goalkeeper Adam Davies twice prevented Thomas Grant putting the home side ahead in the opening half.
And Barnsley took the lead when Joe Davis headed the ball into his own net after Sam Winnall pressured the centre-back into a misunderstanding with Fleetwood goalkeeper Chris Maxwell.
Josh Scowen nodded Adam Hammill's corner home to make sure of the points.


Islamist militant groups are active across the northern half of Africa - from Mauritania in the west to Somalia in the east - with Western countries, especially France and the US working with local security forces to counter them.

BBC Monitoring looks at some of the most prominent groups.
The Somali jihadist group al-Shabab emerged from the ashes of another Islamist grouping, the Union of Islamic Courts, in 2006. Its leader, Ahmad Abdi Godane, maintains a tight grip over the group and has formalised its alliance with al-Qaeda.
It used to control much of southern and central Somalia, meting out harsh punishments based on Islamic law, such as stoning for adulterers and amputating the hands of thieves. It also banned radio stations from playing music and stopped local video halls from showing foreign football matches.
In the past two years, it has been forced out of most of the major towns and cities, such as Mogadishu and Kismayo. But it still carries out suicide attacks there, as well as in neighbouring countries, such as Uganda, where 76 people were killed in 2010 and the October 2013 attack on a shopping mall in Kenya, in which at least 67 people died.
It used to use radio and TV networks to present its propaganda in the form of domestic news reports, but its broadcast footprint waned in the wake of territorial losses. As a result, al-Shabab has increasingly been using the internet to convey its message. Its English-language output, particularly its use of Twitter, has demonstrated a level of sophistication unmatched by similar militant outfits, and reports suggest that it has proved an effective tool for recruiting Muslims overseas. The micro-blogging site allows al-Shabab to provide real-time updates which challenge official narratives on operations such as the attack on a UN compound in Mogadishu in June and the Westgate siege in Nairobi. The group has had a number Twitter accounts suspended, but regularly reappears under a new handle.
Who are al-Shabab?
The oldest of the Islamist militant groups operating in North Africa, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) came into being in 2005 when it changed its name from the Algerian Salafi Group for Call and Combat (GSPC) and announced its allegiance to Osama Bin Laden. The GSPC was founded in 1998 following the dismantling of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) - the militant group that fought the Algerian government during the 1990s.
Abu Mus'ab Abdel-Wadood, also known as Droukdel, a former GIA fighter, became the group's leader in 2003 and since then has been organising operations in Algeria and in Mali.
Elements from AQIM were involved in clashes with Tunisian security forces in May 2013 in the Chaambi mountains on the Algerian-Tunisian border.
AQIM appears to have suffered a major blow following the defection of some of its fighters who went on to set up their own groups, most notably Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who masterminded the January 2013 In Amenas operation in Algeria.
In August 2013 two jihadist groups, Belmokhtar's "Masked Men" Battalion and MUJAO, announced their merger under the new name of El-Mourabitoun.
Masked Men and Signed in Blood Battalions
The "Signed in Blood" battalion was formed by Belmokhtar in October 2012, after his reported split from AQIM. Belmokhtar also continues to command the "Masked Men" Battalion he headed under AQIM. The two battalions were behind the May 2013 attacks in Niger and the siege at Algeria's In Amenas gas plant earlier in the year.
Documents found in the aftermath of the defeat of militants in northern Mali suggest a conflict between the Algerian militant commander and the AQIM leadership was behind the split. Belmokhtar had previously been involved in multiple kidnappings and hostage takings, which may have increased his financial ability as a commander, and helped him to recruit and to organise the In Amenas operation. Some reports have said he has been spotted in Libya.
The battalions have released a number of statements to Mauritanian media outlets, and also use jihadist websites to broadcast their message.
MUJAO
"The Movement for Monotheism and Jihad in West Africa" (MUJAO) was formed in late 2011 and came to prominence in April 2012, when it joined two Tuareg groups, the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and Ansar al-Din, in seizing control of northern Mali. MUJAO controlled the town of Gao between April 2012 and January 2013.
Based in northern Mali, this AQIM offshoot is made up mostly of Arabs from Mali, Niger and Mauritania. Its founding members hail mainly from AQIM's Mauritanian contingent. Its leader, Hammad Ould Mohammed al-Khayri, split from AQIM to promote jihad and establish the rule of Sharia (Islamic law) in West Africa.
The group was behind the kidnap of Algerian diplomats in Mali in 2012.
'The Sons of the Islamic Sahara Movement for Justice'
This group split from MUJAO in May 2013 and reportedly works in northern Niger, western Libya and south-eastern Algeria. Algerian sources say the group is made up of Libyans, Algerians and Malians. It is reported to have carried out attacks against Algerian gendarmes.
As with Belmokhtar's Signed in Blood, MUJAO seems to prefer Mauritanian media sources to communicate its messages to the world.
Boko Haram, whose name can be translated as "Western education is forbidden", is led by Abubakar Shekau, a hardline cleric who, on a number of occasions, has been reported killed.
Most of the attacks attributed to the group have targeted police stations, churches, schools and other educational institutions.
There was speculation that after the Islamist takeover of northern Mali in early 2012, Boko Haram sent militiamen to fight along side MUJAO. But there has never been any conclusive proof of this.
A Nigerian jihadist group, Ansar al-Muslimin in the Lands of the Blacks (JAMBS), is thought to have been founded following a split from Boko Haram. Also referred to as Vanguards for the Protection of Muslims in Black Africa, or simply Ansaru, the group has claimed the taking and killing of a number of hostages.
Who are Boko Haram?
Who are Ansaru?
Several groups using the title Ansar al-Sharia have emerged across the Arab world since 2011. Two prominent examples appeared in Libya and Tunisia, exploiting the disappearance of restrictions which were imposed on Islamist groups by the ousted governments of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia and Muammar Gaddafi in Libya.
Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia
In the summer of 2012, several anti-US protests in Tunisia brought Ansar al-Sharia's supporters into open confrontation with the security forces. Following the assassinations of two secularist politicians in Tunis, and an ongoing security operation in Tunisia's Chaambi mountains, the government declared the group a terrorist organisation in August 2013.
Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia has established a vibrant internet and social media presence with websites, and Facebook and YouTube accounts.
The group's leader - "Sayf-Allah ben Hocine" (aka Abou Iyad) - is currently wanted by the Tunisian authorities. He spent eight years in jail on terrorism-related charges, has been in the UK and is reported to have fought in Afghanistan.
Ansar al-Sharia in Libya
Ansar al-Sharia in Libya hit the headlines when the American ambassador to Libya was killed in Benghazi in September 2012.
The group has several brigades in Libya. In the eastern city of Benghazi the group is commanded by Mohamed al-Zahawi. When the Benghazi group held a conference for its sympathisers and affiliates in June 2012, more than 1,000 people attended. They included Sufyan bin Qamu, the commander of Ansar al-Sharia in Derna in eastern Libya, who, according to the London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi, is wanted in relation to the attack that killed the US ambassador in Benghazi. The former Guantanamo detainee survived an alleged attempt on his life in April 2013.
BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. For more reports from BBC Monitoring, click here. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook.


Derby County defender Craig Forsyth has ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) after missing the majority of last season with the same injury.

The 27-year-old picked up the injury in the Rams' goalless draw against Aston Villa on Saturday.
He damaged his ACL in Derby's 1-0 win against QPR in November 2015 and missed the rest of the 2015-16 campaign.
"He will have all the support he needs from the club in his rehabilitation," boss Nigel Pearson said.
The left-back, who joined the club from Watford in 2013, was making just his fourth appearance for the club since returning from the injury.
He will now undergo surgery on his knee before beginning a rehabilitation programme.


Sevilla's La Liga title hopes were damaged as a mistake by goalkeeper Sergio Rico led to a draw at Alaves.

Jorge Sampaoli's side knew a win would move them two points behind leaders Barcelona and they went ahead through Wissam Ben Yedder's drilled strike.
But Rico fumbled Oscar Romero's inswinging cross with 15 minutes left, allowing Aleksandar Katai to bundle in.
The Spanish keeper redeemed himself to save a Katai free-kick and a Deyerson effort as Alaves finished strongly.
The result leaves third-placed Sevilla four points behind Barca after 26 matches and three points behind Real Madrid, who have a game in hand. Alaves stay 11th.
Asked about his error, Rico said: "It was a move which was unlucky for us. We will keep going like this, we will keep fighting and we will not give up until the end of La Liga."
Match ends, Alavés 1, Sevilla 1.
Second Half ends, Alavés 1, Sevilla 1.
Hand ball by Deyverson (Alavés).
Attempt missed. Stevan Jovetic (Sevilla) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the right. Assisted by Joaquín Correa.
Offside, Alavés. Óscar Romero tries a through ball, but Deyverson is caught offside.
Attempt saved. Óscar Romero (Alavés) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Marcos Llorente.
Foul by Pablo Sarabia (Sevilla).
Theo Hernández (Alavés) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt missed. Marcos Llorente (Alavés) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the right.
Substitution, Alavés. Nenad Krsticic replaces Víctor Camarasa.
Attempt missed. Mariano (Sevilla) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses the top right corner following a corner.
Corner,  Sevilla. Conceded by Marcos Llorente.
Theo Hernández (Alavés) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Pablo Sarabia (Sevilla) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Theo Hernández (Alavés).
Attempt saved. Deyverson (Alavés) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Kiko Femenía.
Substitution, Sevilla. Stevan Jovetic replaces Wissam Ben Yedder.
Deyverson (Alavés) hits the bar with a left footed shot from a difficult angle on the left following a set piece situation.
Attempt saved. Aleksandar Katai (Alavés) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top left corner.
Mariano (Sevilla) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Mariano (Sevilla).
Aleksandar Katai (Alavés) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Substitution, Sevilla. Joaquín Correa replaces Gabriel Mercado.
Sergio Escudero (Sevilla) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Óscar Romero (Alavés).
Attempt missed. Vicente Iborra (Sevilla) right footed shot from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by Steven N'Zonzi.
Goal!  Alavés 1, Sevilla 1. Aleksandar Katai (Alavés) left footed shot from very close range to the centre of the goal.
Offside, Sevilla. Nico Pareja tries a through ball, but Pablo Sarabia is caught offside.
Substitution, Sevilla. Mariano replaces Vitolo.
Vitolo (Sevilla) is shown the yellow card.
Gabriel Mercado (Sevilla) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Deyverson (Alavés).
Foul by Steven N'Zonzi (Sevilla).
Theo Hernández (Alavés) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Vicente Iborra (Sevilla) is shown the yellow card.
Hand ball by Vicente Iborra (Sevilla).
Offside, Sevilla. Nico Pareja tries a through ball, but Vitolo is caught offside.
Vicente Iborra (Sevilla) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Zouhair Feddal (Alavés).
Attempt missed. Óscar Romero (Alavés) left footed shot from outside the box is just a bit too high. Assisted by Aleksandar Katai.


We should not get overly obsessed with making spelling mistakes or typos, because they are not what makes our writing good or bad, says author and Financial Times columnist Lucy Kellaway.

In a recent column about Sheryl Sandberg, I spelt her first name with a C. I read the piece over a few times before submitting, as I always do, saw nothing amiss, and pressed "send".
I have spent 30 years in journalism, and there I was misspelling a name I had spelt correctly dozens of times before.
Had the mistake not been spotted, the newspaper would have looked ridiculous and I would have seemed sloppy, dim and outrageously unprofessional.
The truth is, I've always had a flair for typos. It is not getting better with experience - nor with spellcheck. My ability to introduce mistakes has kept well ahead of the efforts of Microsoft and Apple to eliminate them.
Because I know I have a problem, I try to help myself. I print my articles out and read them on paper.
I change the font for the final read-through to the hideous Comic Sans as the gawky shape of the letters sometimes exposes a mistake that had been hiding. But even then, lots get through.
Business Daily homepage
World Business Report homepage
Given my poor record, I was cheered to read an article in Wired saying we make typos not because we are dim, but because we are clever.
Writing is a sophisticated job and our brains focus on the structure, the sentences and the phrases, leaving the close-up work to be done on autopilot.
Afterwards we are programmed to read only what we think we have written, not what we actually have. If that is the case, it is odd that we make such a phenomenal fuss about them.
Earlier this summer the New York Times carried a front page story about a speech Barack Obama had given on US foreign policy with a headline referring to his "Cautious Reponse to World Crisis".
The story was much followed up, not because people were worried Obama was soft on terror, but because of the missing S from "response". "New York Times prints glaring typo on front page," crowed the Huffington Post.
Not only are there typos in the NYT, there are even some in the Bible.
A Christian blogger in Canada last year unearthed a missing apostrophe in her edition - "If we are crazy, it's for God sake", 2 Corinthians 5:13 - and was so shocked she wrote an entire post about it.
My sense of God is that He'd take this in His stride and would only get steamed up if a typo changed the meaning of His word by, say, omitting a "not" from "thou shalt not commit adultery". Otherwise, surely, He'd just shrug.
Although the indignation of mortals on typos is overdone, it is usually harmless enough. It gives us a jolt of outrage tinged with superiority every time we spot one, and feeling superior does the morale a power of good.
Yet sometimes it leads to bad decisions. On LinkedIn a recent blog entry from one of its "Influencers" lists the five sorts of people you should never hire. Number two is "The One with the Typo".
I would also disqualify a CV with a typo in it - but only if I were trying to hire a proof reader. If human beings have any remaining competitive advantage over the machines, it is not our skill at crossing i's and dotting t's.
It is our ability to write something that provokes a response - and not just because it contains a howler or a spelling mistake.
Lucy Kellaway is an author and Financial Times columnist. Listen to her on Business Daily and World Business Report on BBC World Service every Monday.


Fifteen people donated their organs in the first two months of a new soft opt-out system in Wales.

Deemed consent came into effect in December - this means if people do not register a decision to opt out, their organs can potentially be donated to others after their death.
Of the 15 who donated in December and January, six had consent deemed.
Health minister Mark Drakeford urged families in Wales to continue talking about their organ donation decisions.


President Donald Trump's son-in-law and aide, Jared Kushner, will be questioned by a US committee investigating alleged ties between the Trump team and Moscow.

Mr Kushner has volunteered to speak to the Senate Intelligence Committee, the White House said.
It is examining Russia's alleged interference in last year's election.
The US intelligence community believes alleged Russian hacking during the presidential election was done to help Mr Trump defeat Hillary Clinton.
Russia has denied the allegations and President Trump has branded the story "fake news".
There are two congressional investigations into the issue, plus an FBI one.
The Senate committee wants to question him about two meetings he allegedly arranged with senior Russians, officials told the New York Times say.
But staff of Mr Kushner, who was a senior adviser to Mr Trump during the election campaign, have said that so far his offer to be questioned has not been answered.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said that Mr Kushner has not invoked executive privilege, and will testify because his job with the campaign was to be a "conduit to leaders".
"That was his role and he wants to makes sure that he's very clear about the role that he played, who he talked to, and that's it," Mr Spicer said on Monday.
During the presidential transition process and through the first few months of the Trump administration, presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner has been, in effect, a one-man Department of State.
He has been tasked with brokering Middle East peace, soothing Mexican and Canadian officials as Nafta is reopened for negotiation and handling Chinese diplomats puzzled by the new Washington regime.
As tense as all these situations have been and will be going forward for the 36-year-old real-estate developer, it's Mr Kushner's dealings with Russian officials that may put him in the sharpest spotlight. The Russian story, given congressional inquiries and the ongoing FBI investigation, has the potential to be a ticking bomb within the Trump White House.
When Mr Kushner sits down with committee investigators he will, in effect, be speaking for the president - and his words could go a long way toward assuaging concerns or bringing the controversy one step closer to the president himself.
The meeting will likely be cordial for now. If Mr Kushner is at some point called to publicly testify before a congressional committee on the matter, things could get heated very quickly.
The first was with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak at Trump Tower in New York in December. The second was with the head of Russia's state-owned development bank.
White House staff told the New York Times nothing significant was discussed and members of the president-elect's team routinely met Russians and other foreign delegations.
Meanwhile, Mr Kushner has been picked to lead a new White House team that aims to overhaul government bureaucracy.
It will have sweeping powers to reform procedures, with technology and data a key area and the help of Apple CEO Tim Cook and Microsoft founder Bill Gates reportedly enlisted.
Mr Kushner, 36, told the newspaper the "government should be run like a great American company".
He is a property investor and media executive who is married to Mr Trump's daughter Ivanka.
He already advises the president on foreign relations, and is said to have been influential in helping President Trump choose staff for his campaign and in government.


A man was knocked unconscious by a clown in a circus stunt which went wrong.

Ben Garnham, 37, was left motionless on the floor after a clown landed on his head and said he was lucky not to have been paralysed.
He suffered a cut head, swollen face and a headache and was taken to hospital after the accident at Circus Zyair's show in Blackwood, Caerphilly county, on Monday.
The circus has been asked to comment.
Mr Garnham, of Cefn Fforest, Blackwood, went to the circus with two of his three daughters, Jade and Amber, and Jade's fiancee, Lauren.
He was picked out of the crowd by the clown, Ben Coles, to take part in the show.
The clown asked Mr Garnham to grab his legs before appearing to attempt a back flip, but landed on top of him and knocked the self-employed DJ out.
Three other circus staff then rushed over and carried an unconscious Mr Garnham out of the ring.
He said: "I was very lucky. I could have died or been paralysed.
"I don't blame the clown. What I was upset about was the way I was carried off. I was manhandled when I could have been seriously injured."
He said the circus had offered to refund his family for their tickets and a free visit when it visits Carmarthen on Saturday - which he hopes to go to.


Judy Murray has received an honorary degree from Abertay University in Dundee for her "outstanding contribution to British sport".

The tennis coach said the award came at the end of an "incredibly stressful, but ultimately very exciting week."
Her sons Andy and Jamie will finish 2016 as world number one tennis players.
Murray was one of three honorary graduates at the graduation ceremony in the Caird Hall.
It is her fifth honorary degree from a Scottish university and the second she has received this week, following an award from Aberdeen University on Thursday.
Murray, who received an Honorary Doctorate of Education, told BBC Scotland: "When I was at school I always thought I'd be a PE teacher and then my form teacher advised me away from that and said there were no jobs in teaching at that time.
"Ultimately, I ended up being what I always thought I would be, which was a sports teacher.
"So it means a lot to me that they have recognised what's been achieved in Scotland."
Author and journalist Matthew Syed, and video games composer and musician Rob Hubbard also received honorary degrees at the ceremony.
Abertay University principal, Professor Nigel Seaton, said: "We are proud to award honorary degrees to Judy Murray, Matthew Syed and Rob Hubbard today.
"Their outstanding achievements are the result of hard work, determination and perseverance and at Abertay University we are proud to hold them as exemplary and inspiring leaders."


South Africa's double-amputee athlete Oscar Pistorius is under house arrest in a mansion with high walls and opulent wrought iron gates in the leafy suburb of Waterkloof in the capital, Pretoria.

It is far removed from the city's Kgosi Mampuru II prison, where the athlete has spent the last 12 months.
The Paralympian - who was released from jail a day earlier than expected, presumably to avoid a media scrum - will be under house arrest for the next four years for shooting dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day 2013, and for negligently handling a firearm at a restaurant in the same year.
Pistorius was sentenced to five years in prison, but under South Africa's laws an offender can be put under house arrest after serving at least one-sixth of their sentence in jail.
The 28-year-old will be staying at his uncle's home because he had to sell his own house to raise funds for his astronomical legal bills.
The blade-runner, as he was affectionately known - before his fall from grace - because of his prosthetics, will be able do many things while under house arrest.
These include going out to work and doing community service, like cleaning the library - as was suggested during his trial.
His lawyers have argued that track and field training would qualify as work for him, but it is still not entirely clear whether he will be allowed to train.
Pistorius: Track champion
No preferential treatment
My friend Reeva Steenkamp
The making and unmaking of Pistorius
But he will not be able to compete in any Paralympic event until 2019, according to spokesman for the International Paralympic Committee.
Craig Spence told the BBC there was a "policy that any athlete who is serving a sentence has to serve that sentence in full".
A close family friend has said that Pistorius is in "poor physical shape", adding that his return to athletics would be unlikely.
I watched his sister Aimee Pistorius driving out of the property, which makes it clear that his parole conditions allow him to receive visitors.
I also noticed other friends and relatives arriving at the house, some accompanied by young children. He is allowed to attend important family gatherings.
However, he will not be allowed to go out of the house at night - and drinking alcohol and taking drugs are banned.
Prison officials can randomly conduct tests to check whether he is abiding by the order.
Given the nature of his crime - he fired four shots through a locked door at his home, saying he mistook his girlfriend for a burglar - Pistorius will also not be allowed to have access to any firearms.
During the trial it emerged that he was fascinated by guns and had placed an order for a small arsenal of weapons for his collection.
The prison department already has a parole officer assigned to Pistorius and therefore he will not be electronically tagged.
The parole board has stipulated that the athlete should continue receiving psychotherapy sessions.
A meeting with Ms Steenkamp's parents has also been encouraged - when they are ready and willing.
In response to his transfer to house arrest, a spokeswoman for the Steenkamp family, Tanya Coen, said: "To them it does not matter whether he was released yesterday, a few hours earlier or a few hours later, whether he remains incarcerated or not. It makes no difference to their lives because Reeva is still not coming back."
Anneliese Burgess, the Pistorius family spokeswoman, told us while we waited outside their home that it was important for them to emphasise "that Oscar's sentence has not been shortened or reduced".
"He is simply entering the next phase of his sentence now. He will serve this under strict conditions that govern correctional supervision."
The Pistorius family is correct: The Paralympian is not totally free and his movements will still be restricted.
Vanessa Padayachee, an official with the non-governmental organisation Nicro, which works with offenders to help them reintegrate into society, says South Africa's parole system is very progressive.
It helps the government to save on funding the incarceration of offenders.
"It's used in many parts of the world including in the United States of America," she told me.
If Pistorius violates any of the parole conditions, he faces various punitive measures - the most stringent of which would be a return to prison.
"We do not send people to prison to punish them. We want to rehabilitate them so that they must not be able to do what they've done," says Ms Padayachee.
"And it's the human connection you get when you are under house arrest that transforms people."
Ensuring that prisoners do not repeat the same crime again is what is important for the prison authorities.
Prison is not necessarily the best environment to do this and some may come out worse than when first locked up, Ms Padyachee explains.
But as Pistorius settles into his new routine, his legal battles are far from over.
Prosecutors want his conviction to be changed from culpable homicide, or manslaughter, to murder - or at the least to have his five-year prison sentence extended to 15 years.
The case will be heard by the Supreme Court of Appeal next month - and if the verdict goes against the athlete, he could find himself back in prison.


A thief targeted an elderly woman in her Annan home, police have said.

Officers said it was a "despicable" crime and appealed for the public's help in catching the man responsible.
The victim was sitting in her home in North Street on Tuesday afternoon when a man entered the property at about 15:40.
He claimed to have seen someone running from the house and said he believed the pensioner may have been robbed.
The suspect then asked the householder to check her property and accompanied her into another room where she examined her purse which contained what has been described as a substantial amount of money.
Nothing appeared to have been taken at that time but a number of cupboards had been opened and items strewn about.
The man then distracted the woman before leaving the property having now stolen her purse.
The suspect is said to be in his 30s, about 5ft 6in tall, clean shaven with blond hair and spoke with what was thought to be an English accent.
He was wearing a pale denim jacket and a light coloured flat cap. Anyone with information about the man is being urged to contact police.


Mark Gatiss, Sir Roger Moore and Alexander Armstrong are among those who have paid tribute to actor Frank Finlay, who has died aged 89.

Finlay, a star of the Three Musketeer films, earned an Oscar nomination for his role as Iago opposite Laurence Olivier in Othello in 1965.
On TV, Finlay made a name for himself in 1971's Casanova, cementing his reputation in Bouquet of Barbed Wire.
Gatiss praised him for his "wonderfully fiery presence on stage and screen".
The Lancashire-born actor's death was announced on his website on Saturday.
The message read: "We are very saddened to announce that Frank died today 30 January 2016 at home surrounded by his family. He was a fine actor and will be very much missed by his friends and family."
The family said he had been "renowned for his kindness and generosity" and his death was an "inestimable loss to the acting world".
Finlay died at home in Weybridge, Surrey, from heart failure after a short illness.
Following his success in the mini-series Casanova, Finlay became an established star with his role in Richard Lester's big screen adaptation of The Three Musketeers.
In the 1973 film, he played Porthos alongside major stars of the day such as Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain and Michael York, in a cast that also included Christopher Lee and Raquel Welch.
He returned to the role in 1974's The Four Musketeers: Milady's Revenge - and again in 1989's The Return of the Musketeers.
An accomplished stage actor, Finlay landed his first professional role in Scotland in 1951.
He won a scholarship to London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, but did not take his first role in the West End until he was 31.
Following a series of acclaimed performances in various plays, he was invited to join Laurence Olivier's National Theatre Company.  He starred opposite the legendary actor in Othello, and then reprised the role on the big screen in 1965.
Sir Roger Moore, with whom Finlay starred in the 1978 film The Wild Geese - alongside Richard Burton and Richard Harris - called him "a great co-star" as he paid tribute on Twitter.
Sherlock star Mark Gatiss wrote: "Bouquets to the great Frank Finlay. Musketeer, vampire hunter, green-eyed Iago. A wonderfully fiery presence on stage and screen. RIP."
Singer David Essex tweeted: "So sorry that dear Frank Finlay passed away yesterday. He was a wonderful actor and a gentleman. As Bligh in Mutiny he was inspiring RIP."
Finlay was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1984 New Year's Honours List.
Among his final films was Roman Polanski's 2002 film The Pianist with Adrien Brody, but he continued to perform widely on television until 2009, including a recurring role alongside Alexander Armstrong in Life Begins in 2006.
"Oh Lord, and Frank Finlay too," tweeted Armstrong, referring to the earlier announcement of the death of Sir Terry Wogan.
"My father-in-law in Life Begins, an astonishing actor and wonderful man. What a sad, sad day."
John Challis, who played Boycie in Only Fools and Horses, recalled "happy times" together with Finlay while touring the country's theatres in Laughter on the 23rd Floor.
Loose Women star Sherrie Hewson tweeted: "So very sad! The wonderful actor Frank Finlay has died! Amazing talent will always be remembered."
Actor Colin Baker tweeted: "Very sad to hear we have lost the lovely, gentle, talented Frank Finlay. And now Sir Terry. Too many greats leaving us."


A council lacks the funds to make sure all of its war memorials are in a state fit to mark the centenary of the start of World War I.

In a report to Highland councillors, officers said there was a desire to begin repair work well before the anniversary in 2014.
However, the officials said grant aid would be needed to help cover costs.
The council is responsible for 165 memorials and the cost of repairs has been estimated at £250,000.
Re-lettering names on memorials is expected to require the most money.
Lists of names on the Highland monuments can run to a handful in some places to covering eight plaques in others.
In the paper, officers said: "War memorials aim to keep alive the memory of those in our society and local communities who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
"They stand at the heart of almost every community throughout the Highlands, where the numbers lost were disproportionate to most of the rest of the United Kingdom."
Read more about World War I on BBC History
But the officials go on to warn: "The current allocation for maintaining war memorials is insufficient to carry out this level of work, especially in a situation where work is likely to be required on a significant number of war memorials to bring them up to the appropriate standard."
Highland's transport, environmental and community services committee will consider the report on Thursday.
In June, the local authority said the names of military personnel killed in conflicts since the end of World War II would be added to a war memorial in Inverness.
Royal British Legion Scotland's Inverness Branch and Highland Council asked families in the city and surrounding area to provide details.
The names will be added to the Cavell Gardens War Memorial.
The memorial on a bank of the River Ness recalls those killed in the two world wars.
With a 10m (33ft) high red sandstone Celtic cross, the memorial was unveiled in 1922.
According to Gaelic heritage website Am Baile, one in seven men in Inverness parish died while serving in the forces during World War I from 1914-18.
Cavell Gardens were named after Edith Cavell, a nurse who helped French and British soldiers to flee to Holland during the war.
She was executed by German soldiers in Brussels in October 1915.


The US media have given their verdict on who won the first debate - with most awarding victory to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

But columnists also noted that Republican Mr Trump had the ability to "adapt after failure" and said there was a risk Mrs Clinton could become "cocky" after her assured performance.
Zurcher: Who won the first debate?
US debate: Five Twitter takeaways
How does the US election work?
New York Times
The editorial board was unimpressed with the debate, saying "when just one candidate is serious and the other is a vacuous bully, the term loses all meaning".
Opinion writer Nick Kristof said Trump had "hurt himself", others said Mrs Clinton had "crushed" her opponent.
But Ross Douthat said Mrs Clinton did not "goad Trump into a true meltdown or knock him out with a truly devastating attack". She "won the night, but he lived to fight another day", he said.
Washington Post
Writers unanimously called it for Mrs Clinton, saying Mr Trump had "bombed on the ultimate reality show" and "did not appear ready to be president".
Stephen Stromberg mused on what a debate victory for Mrs Clinton actually meant.
"If Americans were so evenly split heading into Monday night, after the monstrous campaign Trump had run before the debate, they may be capable of anything," he wrote.
Fox News
Pundits consulted by the broadcaster said Mr Trump had "struggled", "never took control" and "failed to exploit" the issue around Mrs Clinton's emails.
"It helps to be prepared," said Douglas Schoen, declaring victory for Mrs Clinton.
"On so many fronts he should have been able to wipe that smug grin off Hillary's face; he did not rise to the challenge," said Liz Peek.
LA Times
Its panel of three commentators had Mrs Clinton winning every round.
"Politics is harder than it seems, and Trump found that out tonight," said Cathleen Decker. "Clinton was unflappable... and probably likeable enough," said Doyle McManus.
David Lauter said Mr Trump's lack of preparation echoed the "terrible job" President Obama did in the first TV debate four years ago. "But remember that Obama bounced back," he said.
Breitbart
Writers at the hard-right news website said Mr Trump had "bludgeoned" Mrs Clinton on trade.
They also accused debate moderator Lester Holt of "shilling" for Mrs Clinton by asking Mr Trump "tough questions" and insisted that Republican candidates were "routinely treated unfairly" by moderators.
Some 75% of Breitbart readers said Mr Trump had won.
The Hill
Republican and Democrat-supporting pundits consulted by the Washington politics website mostly said Mrs Clinton won, but in a poll its readers called it for Mr Trump.
Hillary "looked confident, calm and composed, while Trump appeared frantic, nervous and distracted", said former Republican congressman John LeBoutillier.
But former Republican campaign aide Ford O'Connell declared a draw, saying going "toe-to-toe" with Mrs Clinton on the debate stage "elevated Trump's legitimacy as a candidate".
NY Daily News
The tabloid's verdict: "A grumpy loser! Trump pesters, interrupts Hillary throughout debate - but Clinton gets the last laugh."
Russia
Commentators at the independent Nesavisimaya Gazeta newspaper said Mr Trump appealed to Russian sympathisers in the US, who "like his proposal to restrict the access of illegal migrants to the country" and his lack of the "political correctness of which we are sick and tired".
The debate is trending on Twitter in Russia, where some pro-Kremlin bloggers are hailing Mr Trump's performance.
The Arab world
Saudi-funded al-Arabiya focused on "heated arguments" over the economy and unemployment.
Qatar's al-Jazeera's Washington correspondent said Mr Trump had tried to "hold Clinton responsible for the failure of [US] Middle Eastern policies" and causing "chaos in the region".
Iran
The IRINN rolling news channel highlighted Mrs Clinton's remark that US sanctions "brought Iran to the negotiation table" in the lead up to the nuclear deal.
It also focused on Mr Trump's denunciation of the deal as "one of the worst historical deals done between two countries".
Who do world media think won US debate?


Scots Paralympian David Smith has told of the love-hate relationship he has with the spinal tumour that has ended his bid to compete at the Rio Games.

The 37-year-old was hoping to be part of the Great Britain Para-cycling team after winning rowing gold in 2012.
He has already recovered from three rounds of surgery on the tumour and is to be operated on again on 1 March.
Smith said the tumour caused him constant pain but had also led him to inspire others with severe illnesses.
He told BBC Radio Scotland's The Stephen Jardine Programme: "It is a love-hate relationship. In a lot of ways it's changed who I am as a person, I think.
"I receive so many nice emails and support and what moved me the other day was that I got an email from someone whose son has cystic fibrosis.
"At the end of the email they said 'please never give up because our family is holding it together on your strength'."
Smith, from Aviemore, said that if his efforts to cope with the cancer gave hope to others he could not be angry at his situation.
The paralympian also told the programme how sport had given him the mental and physical strength to deal with the tumour.
He said he had already prepared a timeline setting how, and by when, he plans to be able to cycle again.
Last September, when the tumour returned, he said he wanted to delay surgery in a bid to make it to Rio.
But earlier this month he revealed that the tumour had grown so much that if it was left alone it would crush his spinal cord and he would stop breathing.
A fall from a bike had also caused the tumour to bleed, adding a further risk to his health.
Smith won gold as a rower at the London Paralympics in the mixed coxed fours but switched to cycling after the Games.
In June last year, seven months after his last surgery, he cycled up Mont Ventoux in France three times in one day.


Girl Guides of Canada has cancelled all trips to the United States until further notice because it fears problems at the border.

The announcement comes days before President Donald Trump's new US travel ban comes into effect on Thursday.
In a statement, the group said the "ability of all our members to equally enter this country is currently uncertain".
The suspension includes short trips and all travel through US airports.
The group has also scrapped a planned summer camping trip to California in favour of a different destination.
Sarah Kiriliuk, national manager of marketing and communications for the Girl Guides of Canada, said the decision was "absolutely not"  political but instead an operational decision made over a "general uncertainty" around Canada-US border travel.
"Girl Guides is a microcosm of Canada," she said.
"We're diverse, we're multicultural. I don't want to speak to any one girl or situation, our main priority was making sure our girls who had been planning trips for up to a year sometimes weren't going to be turned away at the border because of one or more situations that were beyond their control."
Under the new US travel ban, all nationals from  Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen will not be permitted to enter the US or be issued an immigrant or non-immigrant visa for a 90-day period.
Ms Kiriliuk could not say  how many members might have been barred from US entry under the new temporary ban, if any.
"At Girl Guides of Canada, we know our members value the safe, inclusive and accepting space that Guiding provides," the statement said.
It went on: "These values are reflected in all we do, including the Girl Guide travel experiences we offer girls and women. This was a very difficult decision to make. We hope that members will appreciate this reflects our commitment to inclusivity and equal opportunities for all girls and women."
The Girl Guides of Canada has chapters in provinces across the country and some 70,000 members and 20,000 adult female volunteers.
Any US visits already booked and paid for by regional Girl Guide chapters prior to the announcement would be reviewed on a "case-by-case" basis, Ms Kiriliuk said.
Some Canadian schools have also cancelled trips to the US in the wake of the travel ban, including the Greater Essex County District School Board in south-western Ontario.
According to figures provided by US Customs and Border Protection, the number of people being denied entry at the Canada-US boundary is roughly in line with previous years.
But confusion during the first few days of the previous US travel ban, which was eventually blocked by a federal court, and a series of recent incidents of Canadians going public with their experience being turned away at the border has led to questions over whether people are facing tougher measures when entering the US.


A former MP who lost his seat of 18 years in the last general election is conducting tours in his former constituency for £5 a time.

Liberal Democrat Sir Bob Russell takes visitors on two-hour tours of Colchester every fortnight.
He hopes money from the tours will pay for a statue of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star writer Jane Taylor, who lived in the town, and boost tourism.
"I now have time on my hands," he told the BBC's Sunday Politics.
"I've gone from an 80-hour, seven-day week - I've gone from the outside lane of the motorway to a country lane - so I'm trying to put my time to good purposes.
"I think Colchester needs to up its game in heritage. We're not York, we're not Chester, we're not Cambridge, but we're very much still a premier tourist attraction.
"We need to promote ourselves more, and this is my little way of doing it."
Sir Bob puts on two separate tours, covering 2,000 years of Colchester history from Roman times up to the present day.
The town is known as Britain's "first city", created by the Emperor Claudius in AD 49. It boasts attractions including the oldest and largest surviving town wall and the largest surviving water tower in the country.
Asked whether people want a former MP carrying out a tour, he said: "There's been no problems so far."
He plans to run the tours each spring and summer and the £5 fee is voluntary.
However, it is not the first time he has conducted tours of his beloved town.
In 2013, he offered tours to raise money for the Liberal Democrats, including showing people the spot where he broke his arm at the age of 14.
You can hear more about Sir Bob Russell's Colchester tours and his thoughts on the future of the Liberal Democrats on Sunday Politics East, at 13.30 BST on Sunday on BBC One.


The Kenyan government has dismissed a claim that 166 students are still unaccounted for after the attack on Garissa University College.

The Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) said on Tuesday that they feared the missing students had been kidnapped by al-Shabab, Kenyan media report.
The ministry of education said that the UASU was spreading "unfounded rumours".
An assault by the Somalia-based al-Shabab group killed 148 people at Kenya's Garissa University last week.
An angry worded statement signed by Education Minister Joseph Kaimenyi said that it was "unfortunate" that the UASU would make these claims which would only "exacerbate pain and suffering of parents and relatives in mourning".
It also said that spreading such "rumours" could be against as security law passed last year.
For the latest news, views and analysis see the BBC Africa Live page.
The statement outlines the figures in an effort to show that everyone, alive or dead, has been accounted for but it may have added some ambiguity.
It says that 815 are confirmed to have been enrolled at Garissa University College and that 663 students were rescued.
The government gives the student death toll as 142, which when added to the number rescued still leaves 10 students unaccounted for.


CIA Director John Brennan has defended the agency's post-9/11 interrogation methods but admitted some techniques were "harsh" and "abhorrent".

Speaking at CIA headquarters, he said some officers acted beyond their authority but most did their duty.
A scathing Senate report two days earlier said "brutal" methods like waterboarding were ineffective.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, whose committee produced the report, said torture should now be banned by law.
In his comments Mr Brennan asserted the CIA "did a lot of things right" at a time when there were "no easy answers".
"Our reviews indicate that the detention and interrogation programme produced useful intelligence that helped the United States thwart attack plans, capture terrorists and save lives," Brennan told a rare CIA news conference in Virginia.
But we have not concluded that it was the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" (EITs) within that programme that allowed us to obtain useful information from detainees who were subjected to them, he added.
"The cause-and-effect relationship between the use of EITs and useful information subsequently provided by the detainee is, in my view, unknowable."
While he was speaking, Senator Feinstein was rejecting his arguments on Twitter.
One tweet said: "Brennan: 'unknowable' if we could have gotten the intel other ways. Study shows it IS knowable: CIA had info before torture. #ReadTheReport".
Mr Brennan was a senior CIA official in 2002 when the detention and interrogation programme was put in place.
George W Bush, who was US president at that time, has not commented on the report, but his Vice-President Dick Cheney strongly rejected criticism of the CIA's techniques.
"The men and women of the CIA did exactly what we wanted," he told Fox News.
"We said we've got to go use enhanced techniques â€¦ and we're going to find out.
"We've got Khaled Sheikh Mohammed who's the mastermind of 9/11 and he is in our possession, we know he's the architect. And what are we supposed to do? Kiss him on both cheeks and say please tell us what you know? Of course not."
At the scene - Tara McKelvey, BBC News, Langley, Virginia
John Brennan spoke in measured tones and with a deep booming voice in a place that clearly made him uncomfortable - standing at a podium in front of journalists and cameras.
In his speech he tried to show the human side of the CIA. He said that after 9/11 the staff, like others in the US, grieved and prayed.
He said this week was a tough time for people at the agency because of the release of the Senate report. But as he described their situation, he kept his head down and read carefully from the text in front of him. He wanted to make sure he got the words right.
Occasionally he looked up but when he did he gazed at the ceiling as if no-one was in the room. As a result the speech came across as anodyne and bloodless despite the emotionally charged words that were on the page.
An outgoing Democratic Senator, Mark Udall, has called on Mr Brennan to quit, citing interference from the CIA in preparing the report.
The report, a summary of a longer 6,000-page classified report, says that the CIA carried out "brutal" and "ineffective" interrogations of al-Qaeda suspects in the years after the 9/11 attacks on the US and misled other officials about what it was doing.
The information the CIA collected using "enhanced interrogation techniques" failed to secure information that foiled any threats, the report said.
Mr Brennan described the actions of some CIA agents as "harsh" and "abhorrent" but would not say if it constituted torture.
He added an overwhelming number of CIA agents followed legal advice from the justice department that authorised some of the brutal methods.
"They did what they were asked to do in the service of their nation."
The UN and human rights groups have called for the prosecution of US officials involved in the 2001-2007 programme.
But the chances of prosecuting members of the Bush administration are unlikely - the US justice department has pursued two investigations into mistreatment of detainees and found insufficient evidence.
On Wednesday, an unnamed justice department official told the Los Angeles Times prosecutors had read the report and "did not find any new information" to reopen the investigation.
Key findings:
What is 'enhanced interrogation'?
Who knew what when?
Who were the detainees?
US President Barack Obama, who stopped the programme in 2009, said some methods amounted to torture.
When asked whether there was a situation where the CIA would use similar interrogations again, Mr Brennan said the CIA was "not contemplating" it, but said he left such decisions up to "future policymakers".


A second man has been charged with the murder of Lynford Brewster in Cardiff and police are appealing for a third man to come forward.

Mr Brewster, 29, died of stab wounds in the Llanedeyrn area of the city on Sunday, 12 June.
Robert Lainsbury, 22, originally from Kidderminster, has been charged with his murder along with Dwayne Edgar, 29 from Llanedeyrn.
Police now want to speak to Jake Whelan, 23, also from Kidderminster.
Mr Whelan is known to have links in Cardiff and is understood to work as a personal trainer, so might be known to gym users in Kidderminster and Cardiff, said police.
The public are advised not to approach Mr Whelan directly, but to call police immediately if they have any information about his whereabouts.
Two other men from Cardiff, aged 19 and 35, who were arrested in connection with the death have been released on police bail.


More than 100 senior Anglicans have urged the Church of England to repent for "discriminating" against lesbian and gay Christians.

The demand is made in a letter to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York ahead of a meeting of 39 primates from the global Anglican Communion.
They say the Church must acknowledge members around the world have been treated as "second-class citizens".
The Church of England says the letter will be discussed at their meeting.
The Bishop of Buckingham and several cathedral deans are among the 105 signatories.
The letter asks the two archbishops "to take an unequivocal message" to the meeting.
It urges them to tell the other leaders that the Anglican Church needs to acknowledge it "failed in our duty of care" to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Christians and "apologise for our part in perpetuating rather than challenging ill-informed beliefs".
It adds: "We understand that the primates come from a variety of contexts with differing ways of interpreting the scriptures, but we urge you to be prophetic in your action."
The Anglican communion in Canterbury from Monday is scheduled to last a week.
But BBC religious affairs correspondent Caroline Wyatt said there were fears disagreements over issues of sexuality could lead to a walk out by conservative Church leaders from nations such as Uganda and Kenya.
The rift in Anglican Church over sexuality is even greater than that over women priests and bishops and those against homosexuality on biblical grounds want the liberal wing of the Church to repent over consecrating openly gay bishops and clergy, she said.
The letter was organised by Jayne Ozanne, former director of the Accepting Evangelicals group which campaigns for the rights of  gay, bisexual and transgender Christians.
She told BBC News a "line" had been reached.
"It was time to stand tall and actually call the Church back to its roots to reminding them about the fact that we are there to welcome and serve all," she said.
"We have not treated the gay community as equal members. We've actually vilified them."
The Bishop of Leeds Nick Baines said he had not been asked to sign the letter, but added: "There should be no place for homophobia in the Church or anywhere else."
He told BBC News that "change isn't necessarily a terribly bad thing".
However, Michael Nazir-Ali, the former Bishop of Rochester, said he does not agree with the argument that there can be "different interpretations of scripture" on the issue.
"The Bible is clear on many things, including its teaching on human sexuality and the Church has upheld that teaching for 2,000 years," he said.


The UUP will decide to join the next executive based on whether it has a progressive programme for government and a collective will to deliver it.

The UUP left the executive last year due to issues surrounding IRA activity and paramilitarism.
Mr Nesbitt said his party had increased focus on the issue and "achieved what we want to achieve".
He also said he would meet with the three-strong panel set up as a result of the Fresh Start deal.
Mr Nesbitt was speaking at the launch of a document setting out his party's vision ahead of May's Assembly election.
It calls for a new era of belief - in Stormont, its politicians and their motivation.
The party intends to publish eight more documents before polling day on areas including health,  economy, education and animal welfare.


Robert Kubica said he had "mixed feelings" about his performance after his first test in a Formula 1 car since injury curtailed his career in 2011.

The 32-year-old Pole, who has limited movement in his right arm, drove 115 laps in a 2012 car for the Renault team at a test in Valencia on Tuesday.
"I'm proud with what I achieved but also it shows what I've lost," he said.
"I don't know what the future will bring but I ran with good pace and consistently in difficult conditions."
Kubica's F1 career was cut short following a crash in a rally car in February 2011 as he was preparing for his second season with Renault.
He was severely injured when a crash barrier pierced the car, causing multiple arm and leg fractures and partially severing his right arm.
Kubica, who won the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix for BMW Sauber and was considered one of the fastest and most talented drivers in the sport, competed in rallying from 2013-16 and has begun to explore a comeback to circuit racing.
His comments, made in a statement by the Renault team, did not address whether he thought he was capable of returning to F1.
So far, this has not been possible because the limited movement in his right arm had meant he was not able to turn a steering wheel sufficiently in the tight confines of an F1 cockpit to be able to drive on all the tracks on the calendar.


BBC Breakfast presenter Louise Minchin has thanked Heart of Midlothian FC for brightening her day.

It comes after the Edinburgh club sent her one of their eye-catching primrose and pink away strips.
Louise gathered a bit of attention last month when she a wore pink, yellow and black dress - dubbed unkindly by some as "looking a bit like a Battenburg".
She tweeted: "I love this shirt. Battenburg dress move over thank you @JamTarts it is fantastic."
The Hearts top pays tribute to the racing colours of the 5th Earl of Rosebery, which have also been used by Scotland.
BBC Breakfast co-host Dan Walker was not left out, with the gift of a matching pink and yellow tie.


Ollie Palmer's dramatic stoppage-time winner saw Luton grab a crucial home win over fellow play-off hopefuls Blackpool.

It had looked like the hosts would be held to yet another draw, before the towering striker tapped home from two yards out after keeper Dean Lyness failed to hold Luke Gambin's shot.
In the first half, Isaac Vassell's early effort deflected behind for the hosts, while Danny Hylton's volley was easy for Lyness.
The visiting stopper was then in action again, denying Hylton on 21 minutes, while Alan Sheehan wasn't too far away from the bottom corner.
Blackpool came close on 26 minutes, former Luton striker Mark Cullen glancing Colin Daniel's excellent cross wide, before Vassell forced Lyness into another stop.
Hatters keeper Matt Macey made a superb save to tip Bright Osayi-Samuel's curler over, while he also claimed Neil Danns' effort.
After the break, Macey excelled again, tipping Kyle Vassell's overhead volley on to the bar, while Lyness denied Pelly-Ruddock's angled effort at the other end before Palmer won it at the death.
Match report supplied by the Press Association.
Match ends, Luton Town 1, Blackpool 0.
Second Half ends, Luton Town 1, Blackpool 0.
Foul by Luke Gambin (Luton Town).
Sanmi Odelusi (Blackpool) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Luke Gambin (Luton Town) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Kyle Vassell (Blackpool).
Foul by Scott Cuthbert (Luton Town).
Neil Danns (Blackpool) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Goal!  Luton Town 1, Blackpool 0. Ollie Palmer (Luton Town) left footed shot from the right side of the six yard box to the bottom right corner.
Attempt blocked. Kyle Vassell (Blackpool) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Substitution, Luton Town. Luke Gambin replaces Stephen O'Donnell.
Substitution, Blackpool. Sanmi Odelusi replaces Brad Potts.
Attempt blocked. Alan Sheehan (Luton Town) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Foul by Ollie Palmer (Luton Town).
Sam Slocombe (Blackpool) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Attempt blocked. James Justin (Luton Town) left footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
Corner,  Luton Town. Conceded by Nathan Delfouneso.
Attempt missed. Scott Cuthbert (Luton Town) header from the right side of the box is close, but misses to the right following a corner.
Corner,  Luton Town. Conceded by Jack Payne.
Olly Lee (Luton Town) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Olly Lee (Luton Town).
Brad Potts (Blackpool) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution, Luton Town. Jack Marriott replaces Danny Hylton.
Attempt saved. Pelly Ruddock (Luton Town) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner.
Attempt saved. Clark Robertson (Blackpool) header from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Corner,  Blackpool. Conceded by Matt Macey.
Attempt saved. Kyle Vassell (Blackpool) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the top left corner.
Foul by Lawson D'Ath (Luton Town).
Colin Daniel (Blackpool) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Attempt missed. Ollie Palmer (Luton Town) header from the centre of the box misses to the right.
Lawson D'Ath (Luton Town) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Kelvin Mellor (Blackpool).
Substitution, Blackpool. Kyle Vassell replaces Mark Cullen.
Substitution, Blackpool. Nathan Delfouneso replaces Bright Samuel.
Substitution, Luton Town. Ollie Palmer replaces Isaac Vassell.
Stephen O'Donnell (Luton Town) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Colin Daniel (Blackpool).
Foul by Isaac Vassell (Luton Town).
Tom Aldred (Blackpool) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Glen Rea (Luton Town).


Borussia Dortmund set up a German Cup final meeting with Bayern Munich by easing past Hertha Berlin 3-0 in the semi-final.

Gonzalo Castro opened the scoring for Dortmund in the first half, before Marco Reus and Henrikh Mkhitaryan added goals in the second half.
Bayern are currently top of the Bundesliga, seven points clear of Dortmund with four games remaining.
The cup final takes place on Saturday, 21 May at Berlin's Olympic Stadium.