Italian coast guard, others rescue over 1,000 migrants off Libya

Rescuers plucked more than a thousand migrants from over-
crowded boats near Libya, Italy’s coast guard said on Thursday,
while describing it as the highest number saved in a single day
in three weeks.
British, Irish, Slovenian and German navy ships took part in
rescue mission, along with the Italian coast guard and a ship
operating under the auspices of EU border agency, Frontex. The flow of migrants crossing the Mediterranean in rickety boats
from Libya towards Italy’s southern tip, had been abating with
deteriorating weather conditions and as more people chose
alternative routes into Europe.
According to data from the International Organisation for
Migration (IOM), about 140,000 have reached Italy since
January in boats from Africa, out of a total of about 700,000
who have come to Europe by sea, mostly through Greece.
Italy and Greece have struggled to cope with arrivals as civil war
in Syria and deprivation and human rights abuses in Africa, has
driven the biggest wave of migration towards Europe since
World War two.

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