About 6,500 migrants have been rescued off Libya, the Italian coast guard says, in one of the biggest operations of its kind to date.
Migrants from Eritrea and Somalia cheered, with some jumping into the water and swimming to the rescue vessels while others carefully carried babies aboard, AP news agency reported.
Some 40 separate rescue operations took place, the coast guard said. The instability in Libya has made the country a hub for people-trafficking.
The rescue took place about 20km (12 miles) off the Libyan town of Sabratha and included vessels from Italy as well as the EU’s border agency Frontex and the NGOs Proactiva Open Arms and Medecins Sans Frontieres. The migrants had set off in overcrowded and unseaworthy vessels with enough fuel to reach waiting rescuers, the Associated Press news agency reported
BBC
