(Rome) Nearly 600 migrants were rescued during the night from Monday to Tuesday on the high seas, about 100 km from Calabria, announced the Italian coast guard which also recovered the body of a deceased person.
Posted at 8:48 a.m.
A large vessel, the Diciotti, along with three coastguard speedboats helped rescue 573 migrants “in difficulty aboard two overloaded fishing boats, at the mercy of the waves, in adverse weather conditions forecast to worsen in the following hours,” a statement read.
The rescue was carried out in the Italian area of competence (SAR, search and rescue) by the speedboats which transferred the migrants aboard the Diciotti.
“Among those rescued is a deceased person who, according to the migrants, would have been dead for several days,” the statement said.
Among the migrants are 59 minors, many of whom are unaccompanied, as well as one person whose medical condition has led to an urgent transfer ashore.
The Diciotti is currently heading for the Sicilian port of Augusta where the migrants will be disembarked, the statement concludes.
Cold and bad weather at sea does not seem to have deterred migrants trying to reach Europe by sea this year, 10,570 of whom have arrived since the start of the year, according to the International Organization for Migration ( IOM). At least 229 died during their attempt.
Adding those who arrived by land, a total of at least 11,986 migrants have arrived in Europe since the start of the year, IOM says.