Italy rescues around 1,100 migrants in Mediterranean
About 1,100 migrants were rescued from boats in the Strait of Sicily on August 28 as they tried to reach Europe, Italy's coastguard said.
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| Migrants walk after they disembarked from Italian Navy ship Sirio in the Sicilian harbour of Augusta, Italy, August 21, 2016. |
Latest data from the International Organization for Migration, released on Friday, said some 105,342 migrants have reached Italy by boat this year, many of them setting sail from Libya.
An estimated 2,726 men, women and children have died over the same period trying to make the journey, often dangerously packed into small vessels unsuitable for the voyage.
Italy has been on the front line of Europe's migrant crisis for three years, and more than 400,000 have successfully made the voyage to Italy from North Africa since the beginning of 2014, fleeing violence and poverty.
