Separately, Libya’s coastguard said it stopped six boats carrying more than 750 migrants off the country’s western coast, and had recovered four bodies.
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As of last week, more than 1,350 migrants have died in the Mediterranean in 2016 and about 190,000 migrants have arrived in Europe via the Mediterranean.
The navy said earlier Friday it was aiding the partially sunk boat in the sea between Libya and Italy, a route smugglers’ boats use in a lucrative business to transport those fleeing wars and poverty onto European shores. That brings the total of migrants who have been rescued since Monday to more than 7,000.
Antoine Laurent, a French merchant navy officer who is now on board the migrant rescue boat Aquarius, said people traffickers’ boats were often inherently unstable. The fishing vessel apparently tipped over on Wednesday after the refugees and migrants rushed to one side of the boat.
Iavazzo’s crew did surprise the skipper however after his boat had pulled more than 400 people out of the water, including 43 children, 10 of whom were babies.
At least five migrants drowned in the incident.
As the rescue boat approached the migrants to prove them with life jackets, the sudden push of passengers caused the vessel to overturn.
Germany’s DPA news agency quoted European Union Naval Force Mediterranean mission spokesman Rino Gentile as saying about 20 bodies had been spotted in the water.
In the single deadliest migrant boat sinking since the crisis began, some 700 people died in April a year ago, also off the coast of the troubled north African country.
The Italian ship which led the rescue, the Bettica, was taking the survivors to Sicily on Thursday.
This week alone, around 6,000 migrants have been rescued while attempting to make the perilous crossing to Europe via the Mediterranean. Most migrants who came to Italy by boat came from Africa.
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It says so far 88 people have been rescued.
