Italian ships rescue nearly 6,800 migrants; baby born at sea
May 5, 2015 · By (FRANCES D'EMILIO for AbcNews.go.com.)
by AP
May 4, 2015
A child blows a kiss as migrants disembark from the Italian Navy frigate Bersagliere at the Reggio Calabria harbor, Italy, Monday, May 4, 2015. Italy’s Coast Guard and Navy as well as tugs and other commercial vessels joined forces to rescue migrants in at least 16 boats Sunday, saving hundreds of them and recovering 10 bodies off Libya’s coast, as smugglers took advantage of calm seas to send packed vessels across the Mediterranean. Sunday’s drama at sea came a day after 3,690 migrants were saved from smugglers’ boats. Most of those migrants are still being taken to southern Italian ports even as the fresh rescues were taking place. (AP Photo/Adriana Sapone)
ROME (AP) — A baby girl was born aboard a rescue boat in the Mediterranean Sea as Italian Coast Guard and Navy ships bring migrants by the thousands to the country’s southern ports.
In the three-day period ending Sunday, 6,771 survivors were rescued at sea north of Libya from overcrowded rubber dinghies and unseaworthy fishing boats used by Libya-based smugglers, according to a Coast Guard tally reported Monday. Ten bodies were found Sunday on boats or in the sea.
Calm seas and mild temperatures brought the spike in arrivals. The relentless flood of migrants this year is on track to surpass the 170,000 rescued at sea by Italy in 2014.
The Navy said a woman, in labor when rescued Sunday, gave birth aboard a patrol ship. Mother and daughter are fine.
