Around 300 migrants were rescued from a sinking vessel and taken to Lampedusa yesterday as the weather turned bad on the high seas.

The migrants were taken to the Italian Pelagie island after being rescued by the Arago, a French frigate taking part in Frontex patrols which was assisted by an Italian coastguard vessel.

The massive rescue comes in the wake of yet another tragic discovery of seven bodies some 40 nautical miles south of Malta on Tuesday. Conflicting press reports have linked the discovery of the bodies to a boat that was spotted last Friday heading north with around 35 migrants aboard.

However, army sources say that although it was not excluded that this boat could have sunk, the connection is an assumption which is not backed by any evidence.

The sighting of the boat was confirmed by a Frontex aircraft based in Malta but only life vests were found by the time an AFM patrol boat arrived on the scene in very bad weather late on Tuesday afternoon.

The news comes just under a month after 70 migrants went missing in another tragedy that saw only eight survivors.