Doctors Without Borders has said 10 people were found dead at the bottom of an overcrowded wooden boat that was packed with migrants and refugees, with survivors rescued off the coast of Libya.
The group — aka Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) — said 99 survivors were rescued, while another 10 people suffocated while the packed boat drifted at sea for more than 13 hours.
MSF tweeted, "10 avoidable deaths" on Wednesday, adding that 1,225 people have lost their lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Europe so far this year.
A rescue ship operated by MSF responded after volunteers conducting aerial surveillance confirmed a distress call coming from about 30 kilometres off the Libyan coast.
The team on board the Geo Barents carried out three rescues within 24 hours.
That ship is now is carrying 186 people, the youngest of whom is 10 months old.
"Among them, some had to identify the dead bodies of family members or friends who perished in front of their eyes," the group tweeted.
Speaking from onboard the Geo Barents, MSF project coordinator Caroline Willemen said it was crucial that those on board "be brought to a safe place where they can start to recover".
"It is absolutely unacceptable that people continue to lose their lives in the Central Mediterranean while they flee horrific human rights abuses in Libya and other places in the world," she said.
More than 59,000 asylum seekers have reached Italian shores so far this year, 50 per cent more than last year but far from the numbers who risked their lives on rickety smugglers' boats between 2014 and 2017.
ABC/AP
