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 cannot 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 .