Italian Coast Guard Rescues 3,700 Migrants In Mediterranean

By Scott Neuman / NPR

Published May 3, 2015 at 5:23 AM PDT

This story was published more than 9 years ago.

Migrants arriving at the Lampedusa island harbor aboard an Italian Coast Guard ship early Sunday. Ships rescued 3,690 migrants in just one day from smugglers' boats on the Mediterranean Sea off the Libyan coast, the Italian Coast Guard says.

Italy's coast guard says it has managed to rescue some 3,700 migrants in a single day from smuggler's boats off the coast of Libya in 17 separate operations designed to stem the tide of illegal immigration to Europe from refugees leaving North Africa.

The operations took place just weeks after an estimated 800 migrants were drowned when their boat capsized en route to the Italian island of Lampedusa.

Italy's version of The Local news website said all the survivors were brought ashore in Italy and that some reached Lampedusa. It quoted the coast guard as saying rescue operations were continuing on Sunday.

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According to the website: "The mild spring weather and the calm summer seas are expected to push total arrivals in Italy for 2015 to 200,000, an increase of 30,000 over last year, according to an Interior Ministry projection. At least 1,750 migrants have died so far this year attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Italy."