1,200 migrants rescued following Wednesday's tragedy

600 migrants were rescued in dramatic circumstances on Thursday in what the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) described as the “most dangerous and complex rescue to date.”

The operation, which involved rescue teams from MOAS’s Phoenix and Médecins Sans Frontières’ Bourbon Argos, prevented a repeat of Wednesday’s tragedy in which more than 200 migrants died.

Migrant Report said that as rescuers approached the vessel, the migrants’ movements shifted the fishing boat’s balance as they frantically called for assistance.

The asylum seekers, which include people from Syria, Eritrea and Bangladesh, were given life jackets and others who could swim were asked to jump in and hold on to the floats.

The rescue was part of four operations that took place on Thursday, during which some 1,200 asylum seekers were rescued.

In Wednesday's tragady, some 202 migrants were unaccounted for after a wooden boat carrying some 600 migrants capsized off Libya.

The operation involved the Irish naval vessel LÉ Niamhan and an Italian coast guard vessel took aboard all 381 rescued migrants to Italy.