Up to 700 migrants, including 40 children, are feared to have died this week while crossing the Mediterranean, based on the accounts that survivors told aid workers once they reached safety.
This even as rescue ships saved thousands of others from Mediterranean Sea shipwrecks in daring operations.
Almost 100 migrants are missing from a smugglers' boat which capsized last Wednesday. About 550 other migrants are missing from a boat which overturned on Thursday morning after leaving the Libyan port of Sabratha on Wednesday. Survivors said the boat had no engine and was being towed by a second smuggling vessel.
In a third shipwreck on Friday, 135 people were rescued, 45 bodies pulled from the water and an unspecified number of others are missing.
The latest drownings -- which would push the death toll for the year to more than 2,000 people -- are a reminder of the cruel paradox of the Mediterranean calendar: As summer approaches with blue skies, warm weather and tranquil waters prized by tourists, human trafficking along the North African coastline traditionally kicks into a higher gear, The New York Times reported.
Humanitarian organizations say that many migrant boats sink without a trace, with the dead never found, and their fates only recounted by family members who report their failure to arrive in Europe.
"It really looks like that in the last period the situation is really worsening in the last week, if the news is confirmed," said Giovanna Di Benedetto, a spokeswoman for Save the Children, which provides assistance to children who make the journey.
And still the migrants kept coming. Another 668 people were plucked from the sea Saturday, the coast guard said.
"This week has been the most intense this year and one of the busiest ever," Giovanna said.
“We are doing our best, but the landings are happening simultaneously in many different ports, and we are seeing lots of children traveling alone.”
Because the bodies went missing in the open sea, it is impossible to verify the numbers who died. Humanitarian organizations and investigating authorities typically rely on survivors' accounts to piece together what happened, relying on overlapping accounts to establish a level of veracity.
Italy's southern islands are the main destinations for countless numbers of smuggling boats launched from the shores of lawless Libya each week packed with people seeking jobs and safety in Europe. Hundreds of migrants drown each year attempting the dangerous Mediterranean Sea crossing.
