The Italian coastguards are trying, Monday, April 10, to save 1,200 migrants aboard two fishing boats in the Mediterranean Sea. Since Friday, more than 2,000 people have already been rescued in various operations.
Three coastguard patrol boats and a merchant vessel, under the coordination of the Nave Peluso, coastguard vessel, are engaged in rescue operations for a boat located in Italian waters more than 190 kilometers to the southeast from Syracuse in Sicily. These interventions will rescue eight hundred migrants who are on board an overloaded fishing boat, the coast guard said, calling them "complex" due to the overcrowding of the boat.
A second fishing boat carrying four hundred migrants was intercepted in Italian waters by the coast guard vessel Diciotti southeast of Cape Passero at the southern tip of Sicily. Two commercial vessels were involved in the rescue during this operation, according to the coast guard.
Passengers in need of medical attention
Alarm Phone, a hotline for those in distress at sea, had earlier reported on Twitter that the migrants aboard it were "in a state of panic".
The ship ran out of fuel and her lower deck took on water. The captain has left the boat and no one can steer it, added Alarm Phone. Several passengers, including a child, a pregnant woman and an invalid, require medical attention, Alarm Phone also tweeted on Sunday. Three panicked people jumped overboard and one lost consciousness.
Since Friday, some 2,000 people have already been rescued in multiple operations, the coast guard said. Thousands of migrants have reached Italian shores, including the shores of the island of Lampedusa in recent days, after making the perilous crossing in makeshift boats from North African shores.
On Sunday, the German NGO ResQship announced that at least two migrants were dead and around twenty others missing after the sinking of their boat between Tunisia and Italy.
ResQship told Agence France-Presse that it was able to rescue twenty-two people and transport them to Lampedusa, with the cooperation of the Italian coast guard.
According to the Interior Ministry, more than 14,000 migrants have landed in Italy since the start of the year, compared to just over 5,300 during the same period last year and 4,300 in 2021.
