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MIGRANT CRISIS

Italy’s coastguard battles to save over 3,000 migrants at sea

Italy's coastguard said it was trying on Monday to rescue 1,200 more migrants aboard two boats on the Mediterranean Sea after saving about 2,000 already over the weekend.

A migrant reacts aboard the Ocean Viking ship in the Mediterranean Sea, after being rescued by NGO SOS Mediterranee
A migrant reacts aboard the Ocean Viking ship in the Mediterranean Sea, after being rescued by NGO SOS Mediterranee in October 2022. On Monday, Italy's coastguard said it was working to save thousands of migrants at sea. Photo: Vincenzo CIRCOSTA / AFP

The rescue of about 800 migrants aboard an overloaded fishing boat was ongoing, the coastguard said.

The boat was located in Italian waters more than 120 miles (190 kilometres) southeast of Syracuse, in Sicily.

The operation — involving three patrol boats and a merchant ship, all coordinated by the “Nave Peluso” coastguard boat — was described as “complex” due to the overcrowding.

A second fishing vessel carrying 400 migrants and also in Italian waters had been intercepted by the coastguard ship “Diciotti” 170 miles southeast of Capo Passero, at the southernmost tip of Sicily.

Two merchant vessels were assisting in that rescue, the coastguard said.

Alarm Phone, a hotline used by migrants in distress, said on Twitter on Monday that the people on board were “in panic”.

Alarm Phone tweeted on Sunday that, according to a woman onboard, the boat that had set off from Libya was missing its captain, and several people onboard needed medical care, including a child, a pregnant woman and a disabled person.

Three people in distress had jumped overboard and one fell unconscious, it wrote. 

READ ALSO: ‘More will drown’: Italy accused of breaking international law on migrant rescues

The coastguard said that besides the ongoing operations about 2,000 people had been saved since Friday in “a large number of rescues”.

Thousands of migrants have landed on Italy’s shores, especially the island of Lampedusa, in recent days after making the dangerous journey aboard flimsy vessels from North Africa. 

On Sunday, German aid group ResQship said at least two migrants had died and about 20 others were missing after their vessel sank overnight Saturday to Sunday after leaving Tunisia.

READ ALSO: Anger as Italy accused of illegally rejecting migrants rescued at sea

ResQship told AFP its charity boat had rescued 22 people from the shipwreck and took them to Lampedusa, helped by “good cooperation” with the Italian coastguard.

According to interior ministry figures, more than 14,000 migrants have arrived in Italy since the beginning of the year –significantly more than the 5,300 who had arrived over the same period in 2022 and the 4,300 during 2021.

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MIGRANT CRISIS

Italy migrant shipwreck toll at 34 as more bodies found

Italy's coastguard said Friday it had found another 14 bodies after a migrant shipwreck off the southern coast earlier this week, taking the confirmed death toll to 34.

Italy migrant shipwreck toll at 34 as more bodies found

More than 60 people had been reported missing after the sailing boat sank off the coast of Calabria overnight Sunday-Monday, with 11 people rescued.

“Today 14 bodies were recovered.. a total of 34 bodies have been recovered,” the coastguard said in a statement.

It said air and sea searches continued for the missing.

The coastguard had on Thursday reported another 12 bodies had been found, including women and children.

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said earlier this week that survivors had reported 66 people missing, including at least 26 children.

They had set off from Turkey and sank around 120 nautical miles off the coast of Calabria. Afghan families were among the missing, MSF said.

Ten bodies were found in a separate shipwrecked migrant boat on Monday off the Italian island of Lampedusa, according to German aid group ResQship.

Some 3,155 migrants died or disappeared in the Mediterranean last year, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration.

More than 1,000 have died or are missing so far this year.

The Central Mediterranean — the area between North Africa and Italy and Malta — is the deadliest known migration route in the world, accounting for 80 percent of the deaths and disappearances in the Mediterranean.

Many migrants set off by boat from Tunisia or Libya, with Italy often their first port of call.

Arrivals have dropped considerably this year, with almost 24,500 people landing in Italy so far, compared to more than 58,600 in the same period in 2023, according to the interior ministry.

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