The situation off the Libyan coast reached crisis proportions over the past few days, with Italy rescuing more than 5,600 migrants since Friday and working to save another 2,500 late yesterday.

Barely having recovered from some 22 rescues which took place overnight between Sunday and yesterday morning, the rescue centre in Rome then received distress calls from another 16 boats.

One of rescues was handled by a merchant vessel which picked up more than 200 migrants, including a Somali woman airlifted to Malta suffering from severe stomach pains.

“Rescuers are completely overwhelmed and the likelihood is that there will be many more crossings in the coming days,” a military source told Times of Malta.

Sources in Libya said the smugglers were likely to be towing empty dinghies to sea and then transferring the migrants on to them from larger vessels.

“The dinghies they are using are absolutely worthless, they’re unable to keep afloat even after a few dozen miles, which means that if they had to start the journey from the Libyan coast, they would sink within the country’s territorial waters.

If they had to start the journey from the Libyan coast, they would sink within territorial waters

“So they are probably using this system to make sure they cross the sea border,” the source said.

Most of the dinghies ending up in distress are leaving from the towns of Sabratha, Zawiya and Zuwara in an area west of Tripoli.

The smugglers who control the network there have been waiting for a window of good weather. And they got it: the outlook for the next few days remains very good with calm seas and little wind.

The smugglers have more control than they have ever had before over sites from where migrants depart as well as over facilities where they house immigrants as they wait to leave, Libyan sources said.

The crisis comes as the European Parliament committee responsible for migration is expected to launch its own strategy to deal with the phenomenon.

EU set to reveal its migrants strategy

Maltese MEP Roberta Metsola pointed out that Europe had promised “no more Lampedusa” following the 2013 tragedy there. “But there were other tragedies after that and crises such as the one we’re seeing in the Mediterranean right now.”

The strategy will be launched tomorrow in the presence of European Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, who is himself preparing to launch a comprehensive EU-wide policy.

However, Dr Metsola pointed out that though these two institutions were largely on the same page, nothing could happen unless the EU Council – which represents member states – is on board.

Tomorrow, she will be pressing this point with the representative of the Latvian Presidency who will also be attending.

Meanwhile, the Libyan coastguard is also playing its part and yesterday rescued 200 migrants off the coast of Zliten, a coastal town to the east of the capital. However, the Libyans are under-resourced and working in a very difficult situation as the civil war rages on.

On the Italian side, the official figure was of 5,628 people rescued between Friday and Sunday. However, Italy was expecting many more between yesterday and today. In one rescue, nine people died after their boat capsized some 80 miles off the Libyan coast. The remaining 144 people on board were taken to safety in a military vessel.

Practically all the migrants end up in Italy because their distress calls are being made from an area south of the Italian islands of Lampedusa.