Reuters:
ROME, March 10 – The Italian coastguard launched multiple rescue operations on Friday to save hundreds of migrants packed aboard several boats off the toe of Italy, less than two weeks after at least 73 drowned in a shipwreck.
“More than 1,000 people are in danger,” the coastguard said in a statement.
The president of the southern Calabria region, Roberto Occhiuto, said a total of around 1,300 migrants were aboard boats which the European Union’s border force Frontex had warned could run into problems.
Three coastguard boats were trying to offload around 500 migrants packed on a vessel 70 miles (110 km) south of the Calabrian town of Crotone — close to the scene of the Feb. 26 disaster.
The coastguard said it had also dispatched a couple of boats to rescue about 800 migrants aboard two more vessels further out to sea. An Italian navy ship was also headed at full speed to the area to help out.
“The rescue operations … are particularly complex due to the large number of people on board the boats adrift,” the coastguard said.
