Updated 7.35pm
Shocking footage has emerged of the lifeless bodies of a woman and child abandoned by the Libyan coast guard, according to an NGO.
"When we arrived, we found one of the two women still alive, but we could do nothing to save the other woman and the child who might have died a few hours before finding them," Oscar Camps, founder of the NGO Proactiva Open Arms, said it in a tweet.
????#ULTIMAHORA Denunciamos omisión de socorro en aguas internacionales y abandono de una persona con vida y los cadaveres de un niño y una mujer por los supuestos Guardacostas Libios, a los que Italia legitima y pone al frente. Cada muerte es consecuencia directa de esa política. pic.twitter.com/2IsxyDHazn
— Proactiva Open Arms (@openarms_fund) July 17, 2018
He said the Libyan coast guard had said it intercepted a boat with 158 people on board and provided medical and humanitarian assistance.
"What they did not say was that they left two women and a child on board and sank the boat because they did not want to get on the Libyan patrol boats."
The NGO said the bodies were abandoned by the Libyan coast guard that Italy had legitimised and placed on the front line of sea rescues.
“Every death is a direct consequence of that policy.”
Salvini pushes back against claims
Italy's far-right home affairs minister Matteo Salvini was quick to push back against the NGO's claims, writing on Facebook that the "lies and insults" were proof that Italy's hard-line position was the correct one.
"I'm not budging," he wrote.
Malta has also clamped down on humanitarian rescues carried out by NGOs, holding three vessels from leaving the island.
Read: Malta closes ports to migrant NGO ships - government confirms
A crew member of NGO Proactiva Open Arms rescue boat embraces African migrant in central Mediterranean Sea. Photo: Reuters