The group of around 60 Syrian and Lebanese nationals left the coast of the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on around August 26 on a small fishing boat. According to the Associated Press (AP) news agency, the migrants told relatives and volunteer groups by satellite phone that two young children in the group had died.

They also said they had run out of food, water, and baby formula three days ago, and that water was entering the boat.

"They're trying to remove water leaking into the boat with buckets, that's all they have," the brother of one of the Syrian passengers told AP. "This fishing boat is meant for five people, not 60," he said.

He asked that the names not be disclosed for security reasons and because some of the migrants did not want their families back home to know.

At the weekend Lebanese parliamentarian Ashraf Rifi urged the Italian government, as well as the Lebanese foreign ministry and the Lebanese embassy in Rome to take action.

"We appeal to Italy, the friend of Lebanon, to take the initiative to rescue the 70 Lebanese migrants stuck in their primitive and broken boat off the Maltese and Italian coasts," he tweeted.

Adrift off Malta and Italy

On Sunday, the migrants were reportedly adrift near the coasts of Malta and Italy. According to families and Alarm Phone, an activist network for migrants in distress at sea, Malta did not authorize a rescue operation and had not given permission to a commercial cargo ship to rescue the stranded migrants.

Alarm Phone said on Twitter on Monday that the boat had drifted back into Greek waters and that two merchant ships were close to it. According to GPS data on Tuesday, those ships were located southwest of Crete, north of the Libyan coast.

A spokesperson for Alarm Phone told InfoMigrants that the last known contact had been made with relatives late on Monday. Alarm Phone had lost touch with the migrants on Sunday, he said.

On Twitter, Alarm Phone said it had been alerted to another group of around 80 migrants who had left Lebanon and requested assistance in Italy's search and rescue area. The group had since been brought to Roccella Ionica in southern Italy.

Fleeing poverty

Meanwhile, relatives of those in the leaking boat told AP they feared that it could sink at any time. "Whenever I call, you can hear the children screaming and crying in the background," one said. "I don't know why no governments have taken action to rescue them, is it because they're poor people trying to make ends meet for their families?''

Lebanon has a population of around 6 million, including 1 million Syrian refugees. More than three-quarters of the population are in poverty.

Migrants are setting off in small boats from Lebanese shores in increasing numbers, according to security agencies. In April, a boat carrying dozens of Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinians trying to migrate by sea to Italy sank more than five kilometers from the port of Tripoli, following a confrontation with the Lebanese navy. Dozens of people were killed in the incident.

The circumstances of the vessel's sinking are disputed. Survivors say their boat was rammed by the Lebanese navy, while the military claims the migrants' boat collided with a navy vessel while trying to get away.