North African people smugglers have adopted a cynical new strategy to capitalise on migrants' desperation to reach Europe, according to a Unicef spokesman.
Using ever-flimsier vessels that they know will never make the crossing, smugglers are relying on rescue boats to take the migrants the rest of the way to shore.
The use of thin rubber vessels and inadequate supplies of petrol force governments, coastguards and charities into mobilising rescue teams.
But as seen in May 2016 when more than 700 lost their lives at sea, this exploitation of international goodwill by the smugglers often results in tragedy.
Christopher Tidey, a Unicef communication specialist, spent two weeks in Sicily's migrant shelters in May and warned that migrant boat crossings are becoming increasingly treacherous as smugglers cotton on to increased international aid efforts.
He said: "The way boat travel has changed is quite interesting.
"Because the rescue ships are going further out, the smugglers are using more of the rubber dinghies because they know they don't need to get as far.
"They go out late at night from Libya and they will drive the boats for four to eight hours until the engine cuts out and then they call for rescue.
"They have no intention of making it to shore.
"'For all the boats that are rescued, how many boats have gone out and sunk that we have never known existed?"
For those who make it to shore, the suffering continues as they deal with the consequences of the unimaginable crossing conditions.
The refugees drive the inefficient boats themselves and have to refuel the vessels as they go.
The petrol often gets spilled into the seawater causing chemical burns which are permanently disfiguring.
Unaccompanied minors as young as 12 take unfathomable risks to make the journey with many suffering appalling human rights abuses along the way, such as forced labour, imprisonment and prostitution.
"They're calling this a pay as you go system where minors travel as long as they can until the money runs out," Chris said.
"Some of the girls when they are in Libya are being raped or being forced into prostitution and are falling pregnant so they are arriving in severe psychological distress."
Many are fleeing persecution and human rights violations in their country of origin such as forced child marriage, or the threat of Al Shabaab recruiters getting to them.
For others, crippling poverty is the root cause. Families are unable to feed everyone so the teenage boys are sent ahead to make money and send back.
For some, if a father has three or four wives and divorces one of them, those children end up in a very difficult situation and are forced to provide for their family.
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"It's very different from what we see in the Balkans when you're talking to people coming from Syria," Chris said.
"It's unbelievably tough and it's incomprehensible that teenagers are making this trip alone."
Today, June 20 is UN Refugee Agency's World Refugee Day.
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