Rescue team said on Thursday that 22 migrants died on the dangerous sea crossing between North Africa and Italy, while over 1,500 were rescued alive.
German International Medical Charity Organisations, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and SOS Mediteranee, said that bodies of 21 women and one man were found including two pregnant women and 50 children.
“Survivors spent several hours with the bodies on board. Many of them are too traumatised to say what happened.
“It is not yet clear how these (people) died,” Head of MSF’s search and rescue operations, Jens Pagotto said.
The victims were said to be lying at the back of the dinghy in a pool of fuel.
The survivors were expected to dock at an Italian port on Friday.
The bodies were also being brought to shore.
“22 people were fleeing from violence and poverty died at the sea while trying to give a future to their children,” Head of MSF’s Italian branch, Loris De Filippi, said.
He urged the EU to open legal migration channels to prevent more tragedies.
Meanwhile, the Italian Coastguard had said on the Twitter that it coordinated eight separate operations in the waters North of Libya in which about 1,000 migrants were rescued.
A day earlier, the rescue tally was 567, including those intercepted by MSF and SOS Mediteranee.
The International Organisation for Migration estimates that 2,954 migrants have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean since the start of the year. This compares with just fewer than 2,000 in January-July 2015. (dpa/NAN)