Dozens of Migrants Feared Dead as Boat Deflates on Mediterranean Sea.

CATANIA, Sicily — Dramatic footage emerged, on Tuesday, of a Mediterranean Sea rescue showing migrants on a sinking rubber boat desperately clambering up ropes and a ladder from a cargo ship that came to their aid. Five bodies were recovered and survivors reported many others drowned.

The video was obtained, on Tuesday, by The Associated Press from a crew member of the cargo ship Zeran, which rescued two migrant boats over the weekend. The footage shows migrants jumping off their deflating dinghy to catch life preservers tossed into the water by Zeran crew members. Other migrants empty jerry cans of gasoline to use as floats.

A crew member is heard begging them to keep calm, saying "Easy! Easy!"

Five bodies were recovered and were brought ashore Tuesday along with the survivors to the port in Catania, Sicily. Save the Children said survivors had reported "dozens" of people died in the rescue Sunday between Libya and Sicily.

Giovanna di Benedetto of the aid group Save the Children said the exact toll wasn't known but that survivors, in their first interviews with aid groups, reported several people fell into the sea and couldn't swim.

The weekend saw a dramatic increase in rescues as smugglers in Libya took advantage of calm seas and warm weather to send thousands of would-be refugees out into the Mediterranean in overloaded rubber boats and fishing vessels. The coast guard reported that nearly 7,000 people were rescued in the three days ending Sunday.