Over 700 migrants rescued off Italy’s coast
STORY: The coast guard said some 295 people were rescued from a fishing boat intercepted 104 miles (167 km) from the eastern coast of the Calabria region, while about 450 were rescued from another fishing vessel 115 miles (185 km) east of Syracuse in southern Sicily.
The second vessel was in precarious state of seaworthiness, and three cargo ships and a patrol boat from EU border agency Frontex helped with the rescue, the coast guard said in a statement.
Italy's migrant sea rescue operations have come under scrutiny since a Feb. 26 shipwreck just off Calabria's coastline in which at least 88 people died and more than 10 remain missing.
