A rescue operation of a boat with migrants in the Sicilian Channel today
ROME - More than 4,000 migrants were saved in some 40 rescue operations in the Sicilian Channel Thursday, the Italian Coast Guard said. The body of a woman was found on one of the dinghies.
The Italian Navy - which confirmed a fresh and intense migrant flow is ongoing from the Libyan coast - said it rescued 1,800 men, women and children off 31 different inflatables. The remaining asylum seekers were rescued by EUNAVFOR MED ships, Italy's Coast Guard, and four vessels manned by humanitarian groups: the Bourbon Argos chartered by Doctors Without Borders, the Sea Watch 2 belonging to the NGO of the same name founded by three German business partners to rescue asylum seekers at sea, the Topaz Responder, a ship run by the Malta-based humanitarian group Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS), and the Acquarius, manned by SOS Mediterranée.
