More than 1,000 migrants have been rescued in the Mediterranean Sea during several operations in the last 48 hours, and many more are expected to attempt the perilous journey as winter ends.
Rescuers found 332 people on Thursday in three separate rubber boats traveling north of the Libyan coast, according to Proactiva Open Arms, the nonprofit that operates the Golfo Azzurro rescue vessel.
The first boat was located 25 miles offshore. It carried 99 people, including two pregnant women and some passengers with burn injuries, Proactiva spokeswoman Laura Lanuza says.
Refugees and migrants aboard the Golfo Azzurro, the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms rescue ship, after being rescued from a boat out of control 25 miles north of Sabratha, off the Libyan coast, early in the morning on February 23, 2016. (AP/Santi Palacios)
The nonprofit group found two more boats in the afternoon and rescued all 233 people on board. The Golfo Azzurro was escorting them to a port in Sicily.
In a separate operation, Italy’s coast guard said that some of the 730 migrants rescued during seven different operations Wednesday were brought ashore Thursday.
— AP
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