More than 700 migrants rescued in Mediterranean
Rome (AFP) - A total of 741 migrants who set sail from Libya in the hopes of reaching Europe were rescued in the Mediterranean on Thursday, the Italian coastguard said.
The rescue operation was coordinated by the coastguard, a spokesman told AFP, and carried out with the help of German, Irish and British naval vessels under the auspices of the EU's Frontex border control agency.
The migrants were trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea on six boats -- five of them inflatable vessels -- before they were helped to safety in the Strait of Sicily, the coastguard said.
So far this year, some 1,770 migrants have perished on the hazardous journey to Europe, according to the International Organisation for Migration, a 30-fold increase on the same period in 2014. ...
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