Italian coastguard rescues about 600 migrants from fishing boat

The Italian coastguard has rescued about 600 migrants from a distressed fishing boat in the Mediterranean Sea. The operation took place southeast of Sicily in the Maltese search and rescue zone and under difficult weather conditions, the Italian news agency Ansa reported on Sunday.

More than 100 rescued people have already been brought ashore by a ship belonging to the EU border control agency Frontex in Catania, Sicily, Ansa wrote in the evening. Another 200 should arrive there on Monday morning. The other 300 people were reportedly aboard a naval vessel bound for the Sicilian town of Augusta.

Aid organization Sea-Watch claims to have discovered several boats in the Mediterranean last weekend. One of them had 221 people on board who were also rescued by the Italian coastguard, Sea-Watch writes on Twitter. There was no official information about this.

More than 32,700 migrants have already arrived in Italy by sea this year, according to the Italian Ministry of the Interior. Many dare to make the crossing from North Africa to Europe on unseaworthy boats, so there are always accidents with many deaths. Due to the large number of migrants that recently reached Italy, the government in Rome declared a state of emergency a few days ago to provide money, for example, for housing in particularly affected regions in the south. (sda/dpa)