Milan: In the midst of a sharp increase in the number of migrant boats entering the Mediterranean from North Africa, support service Alarm Phone reported on Sunday that a boat with about 400 people on board is drifting between Malta and Libya and is taking in water.

On Twitter, Alarm Phone claimed to have received a call from the boat that left Libya's Tobruk last night and to have informed the appropriate authorities. However, they added, no rescue effort has been started to date.

People on board were reportedly panicking, and several of them needed medical help, according to Alarm Phone. In addition, the captain had left and no one was left to steer the boat, which was out of fuel and had a full lower deck.

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The boat was reportedly in the Maltese Search and Rescue area, according to the alarm phone. Authorities in Malta could not be reached right away.

On Sunday, the German NGO Sea-Watch International posted on Twitter that it was searching for boats in trouble in the Mediterranean Sea, including the one alerted by Alarm Phone.

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At least 23 migrants perished in a separate shipwreck in the Mediterranean the night before, according to a different NGO, Germany's Resqship, on Sunday. During the rescue effort, they discovered 25 people in the water, and they were able to recover 22 survivors as well as two bodies, they claimed on Twitter.

Resqship added that their crew had been informed that 20 or so other people had already perished in drowning.

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While at least 23 African migrants were missing and four died on Saturday after their two boats capsized off Tunisia as they attempted to reach Italy, 440 migrants were rescued off Malta last week after a difficult 11-hour operation by the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity's Geo Barents vessel.