More than 1,300 migrants were rescued on Saturday (11) by the Italian coast guard and navy from overloaded boats in the Mediterranean, less than two weeks after a shipwreck off the country’s south coast that killed 70 people, authorities said.

Several ships were sent on Friday to help three ships with hundreds of migrants found in the central Mediterranean, the world’s most dangerous migration route.

Rescue by the Italian Coast Guard in the port of Isola di Capo Rizzuto, south of Crotone, after a boat carrying migrants was wrecked in the Calabria region of southern Italy.

Early this Saturday, 487 migrants were safely brought to the port of Crotone, according to emergency teams. Coast Guard videos released Friday (10) showed some of them on the deck of a large fishing boat in rough seas.

Another operation rescued 584 migrants with the help of a Coast Guard ship. The Ansa news agency reported that the ship had docked in the port of Reggio Calabria, a city in southern Italy.

A third ship with 379 people was rescued by two Coast Guard patrol boats, the migrants were transferred to a naval ship and headed for the Sicilian port of Augusta.

Rescue efforts were carried out shortly after the body of victim number 74, a girl aged five to six, was discovered in a shipwreck almost two weeks ago off the coast of Crotone in the south of the country, according to the AGI News Agency.

Justice launched an investigation into the tragedy, in part to try to explain the delay in the arrival of ambulance crews.

big commotion

The sinking caused a huge uproar in Italy and sharp criticism of the far-right government of Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, which took a hardline anti-immigration stance.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, since January 1, 17,592 people have arrived in Italy via the Mediterranean Sea against 5,976 for the same period in 2022 and 5,995 in 2021, i.e. almost three times.

According to Frontex (European Border and Coast Guard Agency), the number of migrants arriving via the Central Mediterranean route increased by 116% in January and February compared to 2022.