
Crammed into an overloaded rubber dinghy, frightened migrants plunge into the sea as their journey to a promised new life in Europe turns to terror.

At least seven drowned in the Mediterranean as their rickety vessels listed and took on water. An eight-year-old boy was among the dead.

More than 6,000 were saved on Friday and Saturday by the Italian coastguard in dozens of operations as the warm weather prompted a surge in migrants making the perilous trip from North Africa.

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The Italian coastguard conducted dozens of operations over the weekend, saving an astonishing 6,000 migrants

At least seven were killed this weekend, including an eight-year-old boy, as their vessel listed and took on water

Human traffickers are ranking in billions of pounds sending desperate migrants to across the Mediterranean

The desperate scenes came after critics accused the European Union of ‘incentivising failure’ by encouraging gangs to use unseaworthy boats because they know their passengers will be rescued.

Aid workers were yesterday struggling to save up to 1,800 more migrants in an ongoing operation, the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) charity said.

Seven flimsy rubber dinghies and two wooden vessels were put to sea by human traffickers raking in billions of pounds.

The charity said it had rescued at least 453, but more than 1,000 remained in danger.

MOAS founder Christopher Catrambone said: ‘Nobody has ever seen anything like what we are witnessing this weekend. It is a miracle that we have managed to rescue everyone.’

The Libyan coastline remains a hotspot for such rescues. At least 97 migrants died last Thursday, when their boat sank. Just 23 were rescued. In late February, 87 bodies washed ashore in Libya.

Last Thursday at least 97 migrants died off the coast of Libya when their boat sank

Last month a senior diplomat warned that more than a million migrants were in Libya waiting to cross to Europe.

Joseph Walker-Cousins, former head of the British Embassy in Benghazi, said refugees were massing in the country after fleeing conflict and poverty.

People smuggling has become especially deadly as traffickers are using riskier tactics, bigger boats and less seaworthy vessels.

So far this year, the United Nations estimates 32,750 people have arrived in Europe by sea, with about 826 dead or missing.

Migrants in a rubber dinghy hang on to ropes beneath the bow of a rescue ship. A senior British diplomat has warned that more then a million migrants are in Libya trying to cross over to Europe

Good weather is believed to be encouraging more people to risk the journey across the Mediterranean

The United Nations estimates 32,750 people have arrived in Europe by sea this year

Migrants on board the Dutch rescue vessel Sea-Eye. Charity bosses say the EU naval mission to stop migrants is encouraging people traffickers to put them in overcrowded, rickety boats

Mr Walker-Cousins said Operation Sophia – the EU naval mission set up to reduce people trafficking across the Mediterranean and prevent migrants dying at sea – was ‘incentivising failure’.

It encouraged criminal gangs to put refugees to sea in overcrowded, rickety vessels in the knowledge that if they capsized, EU ships would try to rescue the stricken human cargo, he said.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it was working to smash the smugglers’ trade, with 414 boats destroyed and 109 arrests. But officials conceded destroying vessels had resulted in gangs using worse boats.

In December, a bombshell report claimed charities are colluding with human traffickers to transport migrants across the Med.

Frontex, the EU’s border agency, said there were ‘clear indications’ that gangs were in cahoots with non-governmental organisations.

A rescued migrant climbs down from a Tunisian fishing vessel on to a rigid hulled inflatable boat

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said they had destroyed 414 people smuggler boats and made 109 arrests

In December, a bombshell report claimed charities are colluding with human traffickers to transport migrants across the Med

Several charities use their own vessels to rescue migrants and give emergency medical care while awaiting larger ships to shuttle them into an Italian port.

The report said migrants had been given ‘clear indications before departure on the precise direction to be followed in order to reach the NGOs’ boats’.

Figures revealed the number of rescues triggered by a distress signal fell from roughly two-thirds of all incidents last summer to just one in ten in October. It coincided with a rise in the number of rescues carried out by charities.