At least 10 North African migrants died when their rubber boat overturned in the southern Mediterranean while more than a thousand more were rescued from eight other vessels over Tuesday and Wednesday . Haunting pictures show the coffins of those that perished being unloaded at an Italian port . The survivors were taken to ports in Italy - part of a growing surge of people risking the dangerous journey to flee poverty , civil war in Syria , military conscription in Eritrea , anarchy in Libya and other conflict zones . At least 10 North African migrants died when their rubber boat overturned in the southern Mediterranean while more than a thousand more were rescued from eight other vessels over Tuesday and Wednesday . Haunting pictures show the coffins of those that perished being unloaded at an Italian port . Italian officials carry a coffin containing the body of one of the migrants who perished at sea . The coastguard ship Dattilo brought 439 migrants to Augusta along with the corpses of the 10 drowned migrants . The survivors were taken to ports in Italy - part of a growing surge of people risking the dangerous journey to flee poverty , civil war in Syria , military conscription in Eritrea , anarchy in Libya and other conflict zones . Several merchant ships helped the coast guard rescue hundreds from six other boats on Tuesday , and from a seventh on Wednesday . Between Tunisian and Italian authorities , about 1,100 migrants were brought to safety , including 30 children and 50 women , one of them pregnant . The Italian coast guard said one of its ships had rescued 121 people after their boat capsized on Tuesday about 50 miles north of Libya . Ten bodies were recovered . Several merchant ships helped the coast guard rescue hundreds from six other boats on Tuesday , and from a seventh on Wednesday . Tunisia 's navy rescued all 81 migrants on a boat that had started taking on water near the Tunisian island of Djerba on Tuesday night , the country 's defence ministry said . Between Tunisian and Italian authorities , about 1,100 migrants were brought to safety , including 30 children and 50 women , one of them pregnant . Authorities said they were mostly Syrians , Palestinians , Tunisians , Libyans and sub-Saharan Africans . The number of boat arriving in Italy this year is already outpacing a record set in 2014 , with 7,882 counted during the first two months of 2015 , a 43 percent increase on the same period a year earlier , according to the Interior Ministry . The U.N. refugee organisation UNHCR says at least 218,000 migrants crossed the Mediterranean by boat in 2014 and 3,500 lives were lost . The surging numbers prompted Interior Minister Angelino Alfano to renew calls for the European Union to do more to help Italy handle the massive immigration flows . The leader of Italy 's opposition anti-immigration Northern League party , Matteo Salvini , accused Rome and Brussels on Twitter of `` having blood on their hands '' , saying rescue efforts encouraged migrants to make the dangerous crossing . Italy ended its large-scale search-and-rescue mission Mare Nostrum last year partly because of the cost . It has been replaced by an EU border control mission , Triton , that does not have a specific search-and-rescue mandate and which has fewer ships and a much smaller area of operation hugging tightly to the Italian coast . An officer carries a baby as migrants disembark from an Italian Coast Guard vessel after being rescued in Porto Empedocle , Sicily , southern Italy on Wednesday . Migrants wait to disembark from an Italian Coast Guard vessel after being rescued in Porto Empedocle . In a dramatic sea rescue north of Libya , a flotilla of rescue ships saved nearly 1,000 migrants and refugees . The rescue vessels saved 941 people in seven separate operations that began on Tuesday . The coast guard said the migrants ( pictured ) saved in the latest rescues claimed to be Syrians , Palestinians , Libyans , Tunisians or from sub-Saharan Africa . The migrants ( pictured ) had been aboard five motorized dinghies and two larger vessels . One of the larger boats capsized , and 10 bodies were spotted or plucked from the sea . Among the rescued were more than 30 children and one pregnant woman . A migrant kneels down and raises his hands as he disembarks safely in Porto Empedocle . Last month around 300 Sub Saharan Africans were thought to have drowned trying to cross the sea when their boats overturned in 20 foot waves . Survivors rescued from the sea by the Italian Coast Guard stand on the dockside at Augusta . An Italian Coast Guard vessel carrying rescued migrants arriving in Augusta . MP Maurizio Gasparri of Berlusconi 's centre right Forza Italia said : 'Hundreds of migrants ready to disembark and a new tragedy in the Sicilian Channel . An ongoing disaster which this incompetent government can not tackle . 'It continues to tolerate the cynical action of criminals in so doing feeding the rapidly growing phenomenon of trafficking . Terrorists ready to strike our country may be among them . ' MP Matteo Salvini leader of the anti-immigration Northern League said : ‘ Another 10 dead and 900 illegal immigrants landing . In Rome and Brussels there are many with full pockets and blood on their hands . Stop the boats setting off , stop the deaths , stop the invasion . ’
At least ten people perished when their vessel capsized in freezing waters . Italy 's Coast Guard rescued 941 migrants in Sicilian Channel in 24 hours . Among the rescued were more than 30 children and one pregnant woman .