| Mediterranean Sea |
Nearly
800 people have been rescued from boats in distress in the
Mediterranean Sea in the last 48 hours, Italian and Libyan officials
said.
The
Italian coastguard said on Saturday that it rescued at least 520 people
from five boats in Libyan waters late on Thursday, in response to
distress signals from the boats headed towards Sicily.
An additional 171 people were also rescued during the overnight mission in the waters north of Tripoli.
The
Italian navy’s response comes a day after Libya’s navy announced it
rescued 105 migrants from a boat that broke down off the coast of
Garabulli, 50km east of the capital.
This brings the total number of reported rescues over the weekend to 796 people. There were no details on their nationalities.
Greek port authorities also said that they rescued 16 people when a boat carrying mostly Syrian refugees capsized off Mytilene.
In
2013, almost 8,000 people arrived on European shores in the first six
months, and 35,000 in the second half of the year. This year, at least
65,000 people took the risk in the first half of the year, and more than
150,000 people have landed since.
The
migrants making the perilious journey usually hail from poor or
conflict-ridden countries in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.
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