Nearly 800 people have been rescued from boats in distress in the Mediterranean Sea in the last 48 hours, Italian and Libyan officials said. The Italian coastguard said yesterday that it rescued at least 520 people from five boats in Libyan waters late on Thursday, in response to distress signals from the boats headed towards Sicily.
An additional 171 people were also rescued during the overnight mission in the waters north of Tripoli. The Italian navy’s response comes a day after Libya’s navy announced it rescued 105 migrants from a boat that broke down off the coast of Garabulli, 50 kilometers east of the capital. There were no details on their nationalities.