As many as 8,480 migrants were
rescued in the four days between Friday and Monday in waters off
Italy, the Italian Coast Guard said on Tuesday.
In the Strait of Sicily, 5,629 people were plucked from
small boats, rafts and dinghies over the weekend, officials
said.
On Sunday alone the coast guard rescued 22 migrant boats.
Another 2,851 individuals were rescued on Monday, they
added.
In one dinghy, a dead body was recovered.
Coast Guard officials said that many of the migrants were
Syrians while numerous others were fleeing sub-Saharan Africa
aboard about 16 boats and four rafts.
Many were found after distress calls were made via
satellite phones, a frequent procedure with human traffickers
who call for help before abandoning migrants who had paid
thousands of euros each for passage to Europe.
Four Coast Guard patrol boats as well as three boats from
the finance police assisted the European Union's Frontex border
patrol craft.
Several commercial tugboats as well as an Icelandic patrol
board were also pressed into rescue service on Monday, with
aircraft and helicopters operated by the Coast Guard brought in
to help.
Italy has seen a sharp increase this year in the already
enormous flow of migrants arriving on its coast from North
Africa.
Authorities have said that they are braced for even more
arrivals due to the improved weather and sea conditions that
have come with spring.
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