Italian coastguard says it coordinated rescue of more than 1,500 migrants and refugees in single day

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

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Up to 50 migrants are missing after a large rubber dinghy sank in the Mediterranean, Italian rescuers said, while more than 1,500 have been picked up from other vessels in the past 24 hours.



The Mediterranean has become the world’s most deadly border zone for migrants. More than 2,000 migrants and refugees have died so far this year in attempts to reach Europe by boat, compared with 3,279 deaths during the whole of last year, the International Organisation for Migration said last week.

On Wednesday the Italian navy said that the previous day one of its helicopters had spotted a rubber boat that appeared to be deflating, and had dropped life rafts to the migrants on board. The boat then sank, it said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest An Italian naval helicopter airlifted two migrants to safety after they were seen hanging on to a floating barrel close to where their dinghy had sunk Photograph: Reuters

The Italian naval ship Mimbelli rushed to the scene and pulled 52 migrants to safety. Survivors said there had been about 100 people on board, leaving about 50 unaccounted for, a rescue operations source said.

A helicopter later airlifted to safety two migrants seen hanging on to a floating barrel close to where the dinghy had sunk, the navy said. The survivors were being taken to the Italian island of Lampedusa.

The Italian coastguard said that overall on Tuesday it had coordinated the rescue of more than 1,500 migrants – many fleeing war zones and poverty in Africa and the Middle East – from seven different vessels.

People smugglers, mostly based in lawless Libya and charging thousands of dollars for passage, have sent more than 100,000 migrants by sea to Italy so far this year, according to an interior ministry tally. Italy took in 170,000 in 2014.

Around 200 migrants were presumed drowned earlier this month when their boat capsized off the coast of Libya. More than 400 were rescued from that shipwreck.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tension is rising in Kos as migrants queue to register

Financially strapped Greece has also struggled to cope with a surge in migrants and refugees arriving on its Mediterranean shores.

Greek police used fire extinguishers and batons against migrants on the island of Kos on Tuesday after violence broke out in a sports stadium where hundreds of people, including young children, were waiting for immigration papers.