Almost 10,000 migrants have been
rescued in recent days, Coast Guard officials said Wednesday as
new waves of people continued to arrive on Italian shores
triggering concerns that this spring could set new deadly
records for both migrant crossings and deaths.
Some 1,511 people were rescued on Tuesday alone in 12
different operations coordinated by the national Coast Guard
relief service.
That came after the 8,480 people reported rescued in the
Mediterranean between Friday and Monday.
Among Tuesday's operations, 503 migrants were plucked from
five rafts while a patrol boat rescued another 131 people.
Merchant ships have been making a "significant"
contribution to rescue efforts with one vessel, the Norman
Corona, rescuing 95 migrants and transferring them to a patrol
boat, the Coast Guard.
The rescues continued amid growing fears that about 400
migrants may have drowned in the sea off Libya after the NGO
Save the Children said witnesses had reported a boat capsizing
off the Libyan coast.
About 144 people were rescued by the Italian Coast Guard
from that boat on Monday and nine bodies were recovered.
Rescuers were also put in danger as shots were fired,
possibly at private tugboats assisting with the rescue of
migrants.
State police were investigating reports that a Libyan
patrol boat fired shots.
Among Wednesday's arrivals were 236 migrants including
eight children and many pregnant women brought to Messina in
Sicily.
Another 415 migrants were brought by rescue ships to the
commercial port of Augusta along with two alleged human
smugglers who were placed under arrest.
And the commercial vessel King Jacob brought another 480
migrants from rescues on Tuesday into port near Palermo.
On Tuesday, a further 1,169 refugees arrived in the capital
city of Sicily.
UN officials say more than 500 migrants have died so far
this year - 30 times more than in the same period last year, BBC
reported on its website.
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