Nearly 3,500 Migrants Rescued in Mediterranean

A total of 869 migrants – 579 men, 191 women and 99 children – have arrived in Palermo, a port on Sicily, an Italian coast guard spokesman told Efe.

Officials with the Malta-based Migrant Offshore Aid Station, or MOAS, confirmed that its vessels were transporting 372 migrants to the Sicilian port of Augusta.

The migrants – 184 men, 126 women and 62 children – are mainly from Eritrea, MOAS representatives said.

The other 2,239 migrants will be taken to the ports of Trapani in Sicily and Taranto in Puglia, the Italian coast guard said.

The nearly 3,500 migrants sailed from Libya aboard 15 ships that were in danger of sinking, the Italian coast guard said.

Waves of African migrants fleeing conflicts continue to reach Italy’s shores, with the journey often ending up in disasters like the April 19 shipwreck that killed about 850 people.