Over 600 migrants, including babies and young children, have drowned in the Mediterranean in the past month, in the wake of Italy's ban on rescue boats, two major charities claim.

More people have drowned trying to cross the sea from northern Africa to Europe in the past four weeks than in the entire first five months of 2018, according Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

The MSF blames the deaths on the fact that there had been no charity rescue boats active in the central Mediterranean, as they have been banned from docking in Italy.

The lucky ones: Spanish Civil Guard agents help some of the 107 migrants rescued at sea trying to reach Europe as they arrive to the port in Motril, Spain, in the early hours of Friday

The medical charity, along with SOS Mediterranee, accused EU politicians of taking 'a cold-blooded decision to leave men, women and children to drown'.

'Europe bears the responsibility of these deaths on its conscience,' Sophie Beau, vice-president of SOS Mediterranee, told the Telegraph.

The ban was implemented by Italy's new right-wing Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who wants to stop migrants arriving at Italian coasts.

Announcing his ban last month, Salvini accused NGOs such as MSF and SOS Mediterranee of aiding human traffickers to bring migrants to Europe.

Yesterday, Salvini had initially refused to let 67 migrants disembark from an Italian coast guard ship after allegations that they had threatened the crew of another ship.

Ban: Some of the 67 migrants on the Italian Coast Guard ship who were banned from disembarking in Sicily after claims some of them had threatened crew on the boat that picked them up off the coast of Libya

The migrants had initially been picked up by an Italian commercial tug boat called the Vos Thalassa over the weekend.

According to Italian media, Vos Thalassa's crew locked themselves in the control room and called for help after two migrants with mobile phones and GPS realised that the boat was heading back towards Libya, and threatened them.

'They encircled them, pushed them, making the gesture of cutting their throats,' Christopher Savoye, legal affairs official of the Vroon Offshore Service that owns the Vos Thalassa, told the shipping news site The Meditelegraph.

The migrants were subsequently transferred to a coast guard ship called the Diciotti and docked in Trapani, western Sicily.

Yesterday, Salvini said the migrants would not be allowed to disembark until prosecutors determine whether the migrants actually did make the threats, or if the crew of the Vos Thalassa 'exaggerated' the danger.

'Someone is lying,' he told reporters in Innsbruck, Austria. 'Until I have clarity, I personally as interior minister, as vice premier and as a father, won't let them get off.'

The Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms ship arrives at Barcelona's harbour last week, carrying 60 migrants rescued as they tried to cross the Mediterranean from Libya after Italy and Malta refused access

The 67 were eventually allowed to disembark late on Thursday evening after and intervention by the Italian President Sergio Mattarella.

Salvini said he had learned of the president's move with 'regret and amazement'.

Salvini wants to reduce the number of migrants leaving North Africa to reduce the arrivals in Europe and deaths in the Mediterranean along the way. He says that will reduce tensions among European nations over their internal borders.

'Obviously, if you drastically reduce the departures and arrivals, the problems inside the EU among individual countries will also be reduced,' he said.

He said he hoped Europe as a whole will continue to recognize the 'minority' of people who deserve asylum because they are fleeing war, but not the others.

'We hope that finally the European Union resumes defending its borders and the right to security of 500 million European citizens who in recent years have been put at risk,' Salvini said.