More than 400 migrants saved in Channel of Sicily
250 Eritreans rescued from spot of disaster on Friday
15 October, 11:55
(ANSA) - Rome, October 15 - More than 400 migrants trying to reach Europe from North Africa were saved in the Channel of Sicily during the night between Monday and Tuesday in four separate rescue operations.
One boat was a motorized rubber dingy with 80 people on board, stranded in Libyan waters. Italian port authorities ordered a merchant ship in the area to take the passengers aboard and ferry them to Pozzallo, a town on the southern tip of Sicily. In the waters between Malta and Lampedusa - an area where over 200 people are feared to have died when a migrant boat capsized on Friday - the Italian coast guard and navy assisted a second boat with nearly 250 Eritrean passengers.
The Eritreans were taken to a holding centre on the island of Lampedusa, as were the 80 people rescued from a third boat.
Italian finance police also assisted a fourth boat with six Tunisians on board located 35 miles southwest of the Sicilian city of Marsala.
Friday's disaster came just eight days after another wreck in which at least 364 people, mostly Eritreans and Somalis, died.
The incidents have prompted the Italian authorities to launch a new mission in the southern Mediterranean to avoid similar disasters.
http://www.ansa.it/web/notizie/rubriche/english/2013/10/15/400-migrants-saved-Channel-Sicily_9462613.html
Received on Tue Oct 15 2013 - 16:11:47 EDT