Nine people have died in the Mediterranean: the 39 surviving passengers of an overcrowded dinghy in distress saw seven of their travel companions drown while two others died after being rescued on Friday, October 3, by a vessel run by the NGO SOS Humanity.

The German NGO's volunteers said the migrants -- mostly Sudanese war refugees -- had managed to stay afloat amid waves as high as three metres, with no water or food.

Porto Empedocle assigned after port of Bari

The migrant vessel was assisted by the Humanity 1 in the afternoon of October 3 in the Maltese search and rescue zone south-east of Lampedusa, just as the Sicilian island was commemorating the 368 people who died in a shipwreck in 2013.

Relatives of the victims travelled to Lampedusa from multiple continents to attend commemoration events held on the 12th anniversary of the tragedy.

Crew members of the German vessel, which travelled to Porto Empedocle, highlighted that Italian authorities had initially assigned Bari as the port of landing, located at a distance of 1,000 kilometers from the rescue area, in spite of adverse weather conditions and a critical medical situation on board. Many of those rescued, including several minors, were in need of assistance, they said.

Assigning a distant port to disembark the migrants wasn't just a "violation of maritime law" but was also "inhuman", SOS Humanity said. When they were rescued, the migrants had been travelling at sea for at least four days, crew members said. Weather conditions were dire when the Humanity 1 found the migrant boat.

Crew members said many of the 41 rescued passengers were so worn out they could barely stand. They were all dehydrated and suffered from hypothermia.

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Mother and son critically burned

The evening and night were filled with medical emergencies, crew members explained. One person died and attempts to evacuate the migrants by helicopter failed due to dire weather conditions. Another person collapsed and died, despite prompt medical intervention.

Italian coast guards were able to evacuate five people and take them to a health center on Lampedusa only after weather conditions improved in the early hours of October 4.

The evacuated passengers included a mother and son who had severe burns caused by a mixture of gasoline and salted war on the dinghy.

SOS Humanity recalled the long row of caskets, which on October 3, 12 years ago, caused widespread fury: "Politicians went to Lampedusa and the EU promised to solve the situation. Today, on average, three people continue to die every day along the Central Mediterranean flight route, but there is no coordinated rescue program at a European level, in spite of the fact that search and rescue operations are mandatory for States under international law", the NGO denounced.

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