NAN-F-16
Rescue
Rome, Oct. 5, 2016 (Reuters/NAN) Officials of Italian coast guard said on Wednesday in Rome that more than 4,650 migrants had been rescued off the Libyan coast and 28 bodies recovered,
The officials said that with the latest development, the total number of migrants rescued in the last 48 hours had risen to nearly 11,000.
They said that more than 20 migrants were reported to have suffocated in the hold of one overloaded fishing boat, bringing the total death toll for Monday and Tuesday to 50.
The Italian officials said three women, who were saved on Monday, had given birth over the past 24 hours on a coast guard vessel that was bringing some 1,000 refugees to Sicily.
The women and their three children were all reported to be in good health.
The coast guard said the migrants were rescued from 33 boats, including 27 rubber dinghies and one wooden boat that were believed to have been carrying around 1,000 people.
A photographer working for Agence France Press, who was aboard a ship chartered by a Spanish NGO to help with the rescue missions, said that he counted 22 bodies on the boat.
He said that other corpses might still be in the hold of the ship.
At its closest, Libya is some 290 km (180 miles) from the Italian Island of Lampedusa.
People smugglers have taken advantage of the chaos in the North African state to use it as their main staging post in the region for journeys to Europe.
The coast guard said new rescue operations were underway “but far fewer than on the previous two days.
“Obviously the good weather has played an important role in explaining the large number of recent arrivals,” a coast guard spokesman said. (NAN/Reuters)
OYE/AEA
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Edited by Damilola Oyewole, Controlled by Archibong Asuquo