Over-Crowded Migrant Boat Sinks 7 Dead

Over the following three hours, more than 1,000 people were rescued - including three babies - in an operation that involved numerous charities and the Italian Coast Guard.

More than 1,000 migrants have been rescued from the Mediterranean Sea in an operation lasting over three hours after their boats capsized off the Libyan coast.

Sky News witnessed first-hand the intensity of the rescue as it happened in the Mediterranean Sea, 12 miles off Libya.

A rescue vessel operated by MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station) was radioed by the Italian Coast Guard just after 5am on Monday.

MOAS Onboard Operations Officer Marco Cauchi said: "Today it was intense for the fact the rubber boats were jam-packed... they put as many people as they can... they put in 160 people it was incredible.

"These boats are built to only take 100 people. It was dangerously loaded.

"People were jumping out, fumes were coming up, people were fainting, so it was horrible." The Responder vessel, operated by MOAS, began its rescue just after 5.30am (local time).

A small rescue craft was dispatched from the larger ship, heading out into the dark towards the dim single light of the migrant boat.

As we approached, what at first looked like a tiny dinghy quickly revealed itself to be a large dinghy with 160 people on board.

Initially, the rescue went to plan. The MOAS team distributed life jackets to the migrants, tried to calm them down and manoeuvre them towards the Responder ship.

n seconds, a textbook rescue turned into a nightmare. The migrant boat, filled only with air and completely inappropriate for the open seas, partially capsized.

At least 20 people fell into the water. It was impossible to count the precise number. The rescue team dived into the water - something they later told me they do only in extreme circumstances.

Quickly we could see why. In their panic, some of the migrants overwhelmed one of the rescuers. He swallowed fuel from the migrants' boat and began to lose consciousness in the water.

He was spotted by the rescue coordinator monitoring the rescue from the bridge of the Responder. He was rescued and has made a full recovery.

But drifting out in the sea off our vessel, a number of dead bodies could be seen.

With as much dignity as possible, they were recovered, brought aboard the Responder, placed carefully in body bags and laid in the ship's morgue.

Over the next few hours hundreds more migrants, rescued on other ships, were transferred to the Responder, which will now sail back to Italy.

There, the migrants will be processed and should have their asylum claims either accepted or rejected depending on which country they are from.