Italian authorities rescue boat with 500 migrants

2011-05-09 00:47:16 GMT+7 (ICT)

LAMPEDUSA, ITALY (BNO NEWS) -- Italian coast guard officials on Sunday rescued a vessel carrying some 500 migrants from North Africa near the Italian island of Lampedusa, ANSA news agency reported.

Coast Guard officials said the boat hit rocks on Lampedusa, forcing passengers, including pregnant women and children, to jump into the sea. All passengers were rescued after police, volunteers and citizens helped in the rescue operation.

On Saturday night, ANSA reported that dozens of immigrants were feared dead after the overcrowded boat capsized off the coast of Libya, but the reports were denied this morning after the boat was rescued.

According to the Times of Malta, Italian media also claimed that the boat was escorted by Maltese coast guards towards Lampedusa after having been heading for Malta. The Armed Forces of Malta, however, insisted that the boat monitored by a Maltese patrol boat yesterday was not in distress and had not sought assistance as it headed towards the Italian island of Lampedusa.

The 20-metre boat was reported to be adrift 66 nautical miles (NM) south-west of Malta and 45 north-west (NW) off Lampedusa.

Since the beginning of February, the island of Lampedusa has been overwhelmed by the arrival of more than 20,000 migrants. The majority of them were Tunisian, but many Libyans fleeing their conflict-ridden country have now landed on the island. Another boat carrying 800 refugees from Libya arrived in Lampedusa yesterday.

Last month, a boat carrying 300 migrants sank off the Italian island of Lampedusa and only about 50 people were rescued. It had earlier left the Libyan coast with migrants and asylum seekers from Somalia, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Côte d'Ivoire, Chad and Sudan.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-05-09

The NATO countries wanted Libyan oil, and we get their refugees.

The unfolding humanitarian crisis is one NATO helped create.