Updated Sunday, 9.15am:

Seven migrant corpses were found on board a dinghy off Malta yesterday afternoon, while one of two men who survived a sea ordeal died at Mater Dei Hospital.

When contacted, an Armed Forces of Malta spokesman confirmed that two migrants, who were found severely dehydrated, had been rescued and were airlifted off the dinghy to Mater Dei hospital. However, this morning a hospital source confirmed one of the two men had died and the other is in intensive care.

The boat was spotted around 100 miles south west off between Malta. The rescue operation, which started at 5pm, included a Frontex vessel.

The identity of the victims and the survivors and the circumstances which led to the tragedy is not yet known.

It is also not known where the bodies of the victims will be taken.

More than 4,600 people are estimated to have died in the Mediterranean in 2016, according to the latest International Organisation for Migration report, compared to 3,777 in 2015. Tens of thousands more have been rescued, several by the AFM and the Malta-based Migrant Offshore Aid Station.