ROME (AFP) ― Italian authorities said Saturday that more than 900 people had been rescued at sea in 24 hours, in a blow to hopes that the approach of winter would stem the flow of migrants attempting perilous crossings of the Mediterranean.
Most of the rescued people were initially aboard boats which had got into distress in open waters in the channel between Libya and Sicily, a narrow but treacherous strait in which thousands have drowned in recent years while trying to reach Europe.
A total of 477 migrants were delivered to Porto Empedocle on Sicily’s southern coast after being picked up by a liquid gas tanker, the Gaz Concord, overnight, and a further 354 were due to be brought ashore by an Italian navy patrol boat at nearby Pozzallo later in the day.
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
