Some 400 migrants are feared drowned after their boat capsized off Libya, survivors have told Save the Children.

The Italian coast guard had rescued 144 people on Monday and immediately launched an air and sea search operation in hopes of rescuing others.

Save the Children said that many of the survivors were “young men, probably minors”.

The European Union says that more than 7,000 migrants have been plucked from the Mediterranean since Friday.

Survivors say the latest tragedy happened after the boat, carrying about 550 migrants in total, flipped a day after leaving the Libyan coast.

Nine bodies have already been recovered, but no more survivors have been found since the search was launched.