Italian coast guard rescue 1,500 migrants in two days

(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 7 - The Italian coast guard said Wednesday it had rescued nearly 1,500 migrants and refugees from boats in distress in the Ionian sea on Monday and Tuesday as improved weather conditions drove a new wave of departures to Italy.
    On Tuesday night coast guard and finance police vessels intervened to rescue around 130 mostly Pakistani nationals on board a small fishing boat in distress 117 nautical miles from Capo Rizzuto in the Calabrian province of Crotone.
    The group had been flagged by the hotline for migrants in distress in the Mediterranean, Alarm Phone, and had departed from Libya.
    The rescue came after a coast guard patrol boat rescued 46 people from Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan on a sail boat in distress off Crotone, including two children who required immediate medical attention, on Tuesday morning.
    Both groups were disembarked in Crotone.
    On Monday night two coast guard patrol boats supported by a Frontex vessel rescued approximately 590 people from a fishing boat 52 nautical miles from Crotone.
    The survivors were subsequently transferred to the coast guard vessel Diciotti, which then went on to rescue a further 650 people from another fishing boat with support from a Frontex naval asset, two coast guard patrol boats and a merchant vessel present in the area. 200 people were disembarked in the Sicilian port of Messina and 500 in Reggio Calabria on Wednesday. (ANSA).