Five emaciated Eritreans who were picked up at sea by the Italian coastguard yesterday claimed they were the only survivors of a group of 80 migrants who left Libya 20 days ago.

The group - two men, a woman and two teenage boys - said the others had starved to death or died of thirst.

But they claimed their dinghy had been ignored by several boats except for one that gave them water and bread five days ago but then went on its way.

The AFM last night said seven corpses had been sighted in the Libyan search and rescue region by a German helicopter forming part of the EU's Frontex mission - one on Tuesday, four yesterday morning and another two in the evening.

The dinghy itself was yesterday spotted 19 miles off Lampedusa by a Frontex plane which notified the Italian authorities.

An AFM spokesman said the boat was proceeding at speed and the five migrants aboard were not seen to be in distress.

According to UNHCR spokes-man Laura Boldrini, however, the exhausted migrants were too weak to walk when they were picked up, they were extremely thin and their eyes were severely bloodshot.

"The survivors told us that they left Libya at the end of July with 80 other people, mostly Eritreans.

"They got lost after two days and their fuel ran out because they were circling around without direction.

"Then their food and water ran out so people started to die. It was also extremely hot."

She said she was very disappointed that, according to the migrants' testimony, not one boat had stopped to rescue them or notify the authorities about them.

Many fishing boats and other vessels were starting to stray from their responsibilities for fear of complications and of being "penalised", she claimed. Italy's policy to send back to Libya any migrants intercepted in international waters had frightened many fishermen who thought that, if they picked them up, they would be forced to make the voyage to Libya in their own boats.

The UNHCR's offers an award for those who saved human lives which meant to encourage those at sea to abide by their obligations, but in this case it did not seem to have helped, she added.

She said that it was not the first time that a boat carrying migrants had been at sea for so long. The five rescued migrants, she said, were hesitant to speak about the migrants who had died.

Last night they were being kept in the medical ward of the Lampedusa reception centre since they were too weak to be transferred to Emepdocle, which is where the Italian authorities wanted to take them to.

The story was reported by Italian media but the AFM spokesman was cautious about giving details on the rescue, adding that some of the details circulating so far may have been exaggerated or "lost in translation".

The Guardia di Finanza said an interpreter was being sent to Lampedusa to try and understand the case in more depth.

The story brings to mind last year's Simshar tragedy when a group of five were stranded at sea for 11 days until the only survivor, Simon Bugeja, was saved. Mr Bugeja later claimed to have been ignored by a fishing vessel as they floated in the water.

cperegin@timesofmalta.com