Italy's Mare Nostrum saves 3,510 lives in past 48 hrs

Refugees and asylum seekers from Eritrea, Syria, and others

(ANSAmed) - Rome, July 18 - Italy's Mare Nostrum (Our Sea) migrant search and rescue operation has saved 3,510 lives in the past two days, officials said Friday. The Etna navy supply ship is carrying a total of 2,128 refugees rescued off various boats in distress, including 574 people rescued Thursday night when their vessel began taking on water. A coast guard vessel on Friday brought 251 Nigerian and Syrian refugees to the resort town of Pozzallo, which is located on the south-eastern tip of Sicily, facing northern Africa. The 224 men, 25 women, three of them pregnant, and two minors were rescued off an 18-meter wooden boat 40 miles off the Libyan city of Tripoli.

As well, two Italian navy vessels are currently taking to Sicily a total of 1,194 people that were rescued in the past 36 hours, with additional help from two civilian vessels. Another 1,278 migrants from Eritrea, Somalia, Syria and Pakistan have arrived on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, which is the first landfall for boats sailing from north Africa. Among them are at least 176 women and 30 children, said Save the Children child welfare NGO. A total of 1,171 asylum seekers, half of them Eritrean, reached the city of Trapani on Thursday, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The rest are from Gambia, Ivory Coast, Mali, Nigeria, Palestine, Senegal, Syria, Togo. "A total of 67,000 migrants and asylum seekers have reached Italy since the beginning of the year, including over 6,500 unaccompanied children," said IOM mission chief José Angel Oropeza. "They include many victims of human trafficking," Oropeza went on. The IOM has set up anti-trafficking teams in Puglia and Sicily to help identify and protect victims of exploitation, he said.