Two migrants dead as 2,000 rescued off Libya

Nearly 2,000 migrants and two corpses have been recovered from people smugglers’ boats off Libya since Tuesday, Italy’s coastguard said on Wednesday.

Further rescue operations were ongoing, a spokesman said. The figures represent a pick-up in the flow of migrants attempting to reach Italy via Libya, a route through which around 330,000 people have made it to Europe since the start of 2014. 

Prior to the latest rescues, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) had reported 9,500 landing at Italian ports since the start of the year.

This compares with over 143,000 who have reached Greek islands by crossing the Aegean Sea since January 1.

With efforts underway to close the entry route through Greece, Italian authorities are wary of a surge in the number of migrants attempting to come through Libya.

Numbers arriving from Libya have always fluctuated in line with weather conditions in the Mediterranean and other factors.