Dramatic footage has emerged of a group of desperate migrants diving into the Mediterranean in an attempt to save themselves from a rapidly deflating rubber dinghy in the same waters that killed at least 46 on Monday morning.
The video shows a body being taken from the boat, in the waters between Libya and Sicily, as dozens are rescued. Five bodies were recovered while many more are feared to have drowned. Italy’s coast guard says some one thousand six hundred people were rescued at sea in 17 operations carried out on Monday.
The numbers of those risking the journey from North Africa have risen further in recent weeks. Some 51,000 have entered Europe by sea according to the UN refugee agency. Meanwhile, international NGOs Medecins Sans Frontieres and Migrant Offshore Aid Station helped over 300 rescued migrants disembark their rescue ship in Sicily on Tuesday.
