Ten people died and more than a thousand have been rescued off Italy’s coast, official said.
Starting on Tuesday, the Italian coastguard, navy and cargo ships saved more than a thousand migrants in seven separate operations in the southern Mediterranean. The migrants were traveling from Libya aboard five dinghies and two vessels, one of which flipped over causing the loss of lives.
In the previous months a surge of mostly north African migrants was recorded trying to reach the Italian coasts.
According to official figures, the rate of migration this year increased by over two thousand attempts in the first two months of 2015 compared to 2014.
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Naval Today Staff; Image: UNHCR/Flickr