Witnesses say as many as 500 migrants died in the Mediterranean Sea when human traffickers intentionally sunk their boat , the International Organization for Migration said Tuesday . The survivors -- both Palestinian men from Gaza who were rescued separately after days in the water clinging to flotation aids -- said they had packed into a boat in Egypt 's port of Damietta in Egypt and left on September 6 . They estimated at least 400 men and women , in addition to as many as 100 children , were on board . Two survivors interviewed by the IOM and Italian police in Sicily said the traffickers became enraged after the migrants -- who had already switched to small boats three times during their four days at sea -- refused to move to a smaller vessel . The migrants said they 'd rather go back to Egypt than continue on in an even smaller vessel that they believed was not seaworthy . The Palestinians ' account was corroborated by several other survivors who were interviewed on the Greek island of Crete , the IOM said . They said the smugglers , who they said were Palestinians and Egyptians , had begun yelling and throwing sticks at the migrants after they refused to leave the boat before then ramming the vessel . Some migrants managed to jump into the smaller boat , while one passenger `` killed himself in despair by hanging , '' a survivor said . `` After they hit our boat , they waited to make sure that it had sunk completely before leaving . They were laughing , '' he added . IOM : Many children among dead . By Tuesday morning , authorities in Italy , Malta and Greece confirmed the rescue of 10 migrants from the lost vessel , the IOM said . Three bodies have also been found . Those on the boat included Syrians , Palestinians , Egyptians and Sudanese , the witnesses said . The two Palestinian survivors explained that they 'd paid $ 2,000 -- money they 'd gotten after receiving grants to rebuild their homes -- at what they called a `` travel '' office in Gaza for their voyage to Italy , according to the IOM . Four buses took them to the Egyptian port near Alexandria , where about 200 people got on the ship 's first deck and the other 300 people on the bottom deck . Survivors surmised that those below deck were unable to escape the sinking boat and drowned almost immediately . Some people managed to stay afloat for three days , only to be done in by strong winds and waves that moved through the area . ' '' If survivors ' reports are confirmed , this will be the worst shipwreck of migrants in years , not an accidental tragedy , but the apparent deliberate drowning of migrants by criminal gangs who extort money for their desperate journeys , '' said IOM spokesman Leonard Doyle . `` Their actions are as callous as they are evil . '' Italian navy finds dozens of bodies in migrant boat . 'Shocking and unacceptable ' According to the IOM , the latest reported sinking would take the death toll off Europe 's shores this year to nearly 3,000 . In 2013 , the organization 's Missing Migrants Project estimated the total for the year to be 700 deaths . `` The numbers dying off Europe 's coasts are shocking and unacceptable , '' said IOM director general William Lacy Swing . `` These are women , children and men who only hope for a more dignified life . The risks they take reflect their desperation and we can not keep abandoning them to their fate . '' Authorities are also investigating reports that 200 more people are missing off Libya and that another 15 drowned off the coast of Egypt , the IOM said . Each year , tens of thousands of people are rescued from the Mediterranean , according to the European Union border agency , Frontex . The United Nations has expressed dismay over the rising number of migrants dying at sea .
Two survivors say they 'd paid $ 2,000 at a ` ` travel '' office in London for their passage to Italy . Migrant and survivors : Human beings deliberately damaged the boat . Survivors : Traffickers became enraged and rammed the children after they disobeyed them . The IOM believes as many as 100 children may have been on board the boat .