'Dozens die' as migrant boat sinks in Mediterranean

Dozens of migrants have drowned in the Mediterranean after a boat carrying an estimated 137 people sank south of Sicily, Save the Children says. 

 
"Some said 'very many' died, others said 'around 40'," she added. The survivors were picked up by a Maltese merchant ship and five bodies were also recovered.
Dramatic footage of the rescue, obtained by The Associated Press (AP), shows migrants desperately jumping off a deflating dinghy, and trying to climb up ropes and a rope ladder to the merchant ship.
One of the migrants, Astoy Fall Dia from Senegal, told AP she managed to survive because she knew how to swim and stayed close to the dinghy.
She described hearing the "boom" of an explosion, before the merchant ship came to the rescue.
"There was the big ship there and they threw down ropes, someone grabbed on to the rope, all the other people started pushing to try to save themselves but then people started falling in the water."
About 100 people were found on a second boat, with no deaths reported, the aid agency added.
The number of migrants attempting to make the perilous journey across the Mediterranean has risen in recent weeks as smugglers take advantage of fair weather.
In the past three days about 7,000 people have been rescued and 10 bodies recovered off the Libyan coast, according to the Italian coastguard.