420 illegal immigrants rescued off Italian coast

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The Italian Coast Guard announced yesterday that it has rescued more than 420 migrants, including dozens of children, from boats facing difficulty in the Mediterranean.

In a statement, the Associated Press quoted the US Coast Guard as saying that 70 migrants were safely transferred to the small Italian island of Lampedusa, south of Sicily, while 350 other migrants, including 40 children, were recovered from a stranded fishing boat 115 kilometers off the coast of Sicily.

It is noteworthy that 57,833 illegal immigrants arrived in Italy by sea from the beginning of this year until the 12th of this month.

United Nations statistics indicated that more than five thousand people were killed last year while trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe from the Libyan shores.