The Italian coast guard was trying on Monday to rescue 1,200 migrants crammed aboard two fishing boats in the Mediterranean Sea, after saving some 2,000 others since Friday in various operations.
Efforts to rescue 800 migrants on board an overcrowded fishing boat were underway, the coastguard said, describing the operation as “complex” due to the overcrowding of the boat, which was located in Italian waters more than 190 km southeast of Syracuse in Sicily.
Three coastguard patrol boats and a merchant vessel, under the coordination of the coastguard vessel 'Nave Peluso,' were engaged in the rescue operations.
A second fishing boat carrying 400 migrants was intercepted in Italian waters by the coastguard vessel 'Diciotti' southeast of Cape Passero, at the southern tip of Sicily. Two merchant ships were involved in the rescue operation, according to the coastguard.
Alarm Phone, a hotline for people in distress at sea, said on Twitter on Monday that the migrants on board were “in a state of panic.”
A woman on board said the boat from Libya no longer had a captain, and several passengers, including a child, a pregnant woman and an invalid, needed medical attention, Alarm Phone tweeted on Sunday.
Three people panicked and jumped overboard, and one of them lost consciousness.
Since Friday, some 2,000 people have already been rescued in multiple operations, the coastguard said.
