Harrowing pictures from inside rescue vessel show migrants stepping over piles of bodies in desperate fight for survival

THESE are the harrowing images that capture the stark reality of crammed migrant boats making their way to Europe in the latest deadly episode in the Mediterranean.

Photographer Aris Messinis was on board a rescue boat as it battled to help a number of overcrowded rubber dinghies and a larger wooden vessel found in distress off the coast of Libya in a dramatic operation this week.

He captured the stomach-churning moment survivors were forced to step over lifeless bodies on their way to safety.

Hundreds of migrants were hauled to safety but dozens died agonising deaths from suffocation as a result of either toxic fumes or the panicked crush of too many bodies - 29 of them on one of the dinghies.

According to the photographer, the death toll reached 32 and his snaps capture the extreme range of emotions of the tragic events.

One snap shows a migrant clinging desperately to a float thrown in by the rescuers while trying to stretch his leg out to help another fellow passenger near him.

Other images reveal that there were many small children on board the boats -  one seen crying and others seem totally carefree, oblivious to the panic.

Another heart-breaking image shows migrants desperately trying to pull a baby out of the water and back onto the boat as they wait to be rescued.

Messinis said: "There must have been about 1,000 people on board the (larger wooden) boat, spread over three levels.

"I went on-board and there was total panic, there were people jumping into the water, people trying to get out (from below deck)."

Italy's coastguard said it coordinated 33 different rescue operations on Tuesday and that 4,655 people had been saved, taking the total saved to more than 10,000 in two days.

At least nine corpses were recovered and the Libyan coastguard reported a separate sinking in which at least 11 people died.

Photographer Messinis was travelling on the Astral, a ship chartered by Spanish NGO ProActiva Open Arms, which rescues migrants at sea.

Its operation, which was helped by an Italian navy vessel, began before dawn and lasted until nightfall.

Italy's coastguard and the charity MSF (Doctors without Borders) reported that four pregnant women who were among the rescued had given birth on their way to Italian ports.

The number of pregnant women boarding migrant boats in Libya has increased significantly this year and it is not uncommon for them to go into labour as soon as they reach the safety of a rescue boat.

The 10,600 new arrivals will raise to more than 140,000 the total number of migrants or refugees to have landed in Italy since the start of this year.

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