More than 400 people are feared dead in the latest tragedy in the sea off Malta, according to reports from the few survivors.
Only 11 people were pulled out alive from an area some 300 miles away from Malta close to Crete.
Eight people, who were unconscious and suffering from hypothermia, were sent to Greece for urgent treatment. However, an infant died on the way.
Three survivors expected to be brought to Malta
The remaining three survivors and two bodies were expected to be brought to Malta. The survivors said they were Palestinian and had left from Egypt.
It was hard to establish exactly what happened as the survivors were still in shock; however, rescuers were told by different people that two boats carrying migrants were involved in the accident.
The larger boat appears to have been carrying between 300 and 400 people, while the smaller one was carrying about 30.
Armed Forces of Malta sources said survivors claimed some on the smaller boat, which could have been taking in water, were trying to get the bigger boat to stop before they eventually rammed it causing both vessels to sink.
Rescuers spotted some corpses in the water but nowhere near the numbers mentioned. However, in past tragedies a number of people on board vessels were dragged down by a sinking boat, particularly if they were below deck.
The area falls within Malta’s search and rescue region but the distance proved challenging for the Armed Forces, which received the first call on Thursday evening.
The alarm was raised by the AMS Pegasus, a merchant ship that spotted two people on board. After they were picked up, they claimed to have been on a vessel carrying 30 people that sank.
The rescue coordination centre in Malta scrambled an aircraft and diverted several merchant vessels in the vicinity. Eventually, an Italian coastguard aircraft spotted people in the water and dropped a life raft, which rescued the group that was later taken to Greece.
The operation continued throughout the day yesterday but no more survivors were spotted last night.
If confirmed, this could be one of the biggest tragedies at sea since the Mediterranean migration phenomenon began, evoking memories of the back-to-back tragedies that took place off Lampedusa last October when some 700 people died in two incidents.
In those accidents too, many bodies were trapped in the vessels having been recovered later by divers who released harrowing footage of dozens of corpses floating in the wreck on the seabed.
The tragedy comes as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, arrived in Malta at the weekend on his first visit.
He will be holding talks with Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and other Cabinet members tomorrow as well as with officials from the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) based in Marsa.
Last week, European Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström also visited Malta.
Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech told her that Malta feels the EU is passive on migration and “it is about time that the common asylum policy is implemented”.