{"id":113439,"date":"2015-05-03T13:07:09","date_gmt":"2015-05-03T13:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=113439"},"modified":"2015-05-03T13:07:09","modified_gmt":"2015-05-03T13:07:09","slug":"thousands-of-migrants-rescued-at-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2015\/05\/thousands-of-migrants-rescued-at-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands of migrants rescued at sea"},"content":{"rendered":"
Nearly 3,700 migrants were rescued from boats near the coast of Libya on Saturday and early on Sunday, the Italian coastguard said.<\/p>\n
A spokesman said rescue operations were likely to continue throughout Sunday. All of those pulled from boats were being taken to Italy.<\/p>\n
Italian authorities said the migrants were rescued by Italian and French navy vessels in 17 separate operations.<\/p>\n
At least 1,750 people have died this year trying to cross the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n
The number is a 20-fold increase on the same period in 2014, when 96 people died. Many more migrants are expected to make the crossing as smugglers take advantage of calmer weather.<\/p>\n
At an emergency meeting last month to discuss the crisis, European Union leaders said they would triple the funding for rescue operations run by EU border agency Frontex, and threatened to target smugglers’ boats with military strikes.<\/p>\n