The boat that sank in the Mediterranean killing 400 migrants capsized when desperate passengers surged to one side because they thought they were about to be rescued , it emerged yesterday . Survivors said the two-deck vessel ‘ flipped ’ after a commercial ship was spotted and men on the deck ran to one side , the sudden movement and weight pitching them into the sea . Hundreds of terrified women and children sheltering from the cold in the hull were trapped and died as water surged in and the boat turned upside down . Saved : Dozens of migrants are brought ashore at Corigliano harbor in Italy after they were rescued from a shipwreck which killed 400 others . The trauma of their ordeal is clear to see as the African migrants wait to be assess by medics after disembarking from their coastguard vessel . Survivors told charity workers that as many as 400 others perished and Italian coastguards said today that no more had been found alive . The commercial ship was unaware of the unfolding disaster and went on its journey , leaving men , women and children in the water before an Italian naval vessel arrived at the site some 80 miles south of the island of Lampedusa . Dazed , scared and exhausted survivors , including several children , were taken to Lampedusa and ports in Sicily , Calabria and Tunisia . Two babies on the harbour side were wrapped in blankets – one in a makeshift cot – and carried in the arms of aid workers . As searches continued for survivors yesterday , Federico Fossi , a UN refugee agency spokesman in Italy , said 145 people had been rescued , all from sub-Saharan countries , and nine bodies had been recovered . Joel Millman , from the International Organization for Migration ( IOM ) , said : ‘ According to testimonies , at least one-third of the passengers were women and children . At the time of the shipwreck , they were staying in the hull of the boat to be better protected from the cold . ‘ When the men on the deck became restless and started moving about because a rescue boat was beginning to approach them , the boat capsized and water flooded the hull . Women and children died immediately. ’ The death toll is the largest in the region since October 2013 and came as 42 boats , coming mainly from Libya and North Africa and carrying 5,110 migrants – including 317 unaccompanied children – were rescued in just 48 hours trying to make the hazardous crossing to Europe . Perilous journey : In a tragic twist , the boat appears to have overturned because of the excitement caused by the sighting of rescuers . Lucky few : Coastguard spokesman Filippo Marini said they had not found any more 'survivors or anything else to indicate more victims ' Shell-shocked : A man is escorted by an Italian Financial police from the tanker Maria Bottiglieri at the port of Corigliano Calabro . As the survivors were brought ashore , Amnesty International accused the EU for scrapping rescue operations in the Mediterranean . Health checks : Rescued men , women and children are processed after arriving at the southern Italian port of Corigliano in Italy . The disaster has focused attention on the controversial decision to stop Italian naval patrols – which last year rescued 170,000 migrants – and replace them with a smaller European policing and surveillance mission . Yesterday the British-based Save the Children called on the leaders of UK political parties to commit to ‘ restart the rescue ’ operations . Save the Children chief executive Justin Forsyth said : ‘ Our political leaders can not ignore the fact that without search and rescue we are allowing thousands of innocent children and their families to drown off the coast of Europe . ‘ How many thousands must die this summer before Europe acts ? ’ Recent good weather in the Mediterranean and renewed violence in Libya have prompted a big increase in the numbers trying to reach Italy . Many who make it have told horrific stories of their barbaric exploitation by people smugglers , who they accuse of rape , murder and torture . One 17-year-old Eritrean boy told Save the Children officials : ‘ In Libya we only ate once a day . ‘ We were continuously beaten up , in some cases with iron bars . I saw people cut off the heads of Christian people. ’ Officials say the disaster has taken the number of migrants lost at sea in the area this year to 900 , compared with 17 in the same period last year . An increasingly violent and chaotic situation in Libya has added to the problem , with unpoliced ports allowing people smugglers a free hand . Italian Red Cross operators give first aid to immigrants as they arrive in the Italian port of Messina in Sicily . Italian coastguards intercepted 42 boats on April 12 and 13 , carrying 6,500 migrants attempting to make the hazardous crossing to Europe . Recent good weather has prompted a spike in the number of migrants attempting to reach Italy , many of them on overcrowded vessels .
Overloaded ship capsized off the Libyan coast on the treacherous seas across the country on Sunday . Around migrants were brought to Italy after being rescued – but survivors said at least 400 other migrants had died . Amnesty officials accused EU of ' clearly saving thousands of lives ' after conducting rescue operations .