Italian Coast Guard rescues 300 migrants from stormy seas

ROCCELLA JONICA, Italy — The Italian Coast Guard has rescued much than 300 young men and boys, astir of them from Egypt, from a storm-battered sportfishing vessel successful unsmooth seas disconnected the confederate “toe” of Italy’s mainland.

The rescue began Saturday nighttime and ended aboriginal Sunday erstwhile the 303 migrants, soaked and shivering, stepped connected to the larboard of Roccella Jonica successful the the Calabria region.

While astir migrants seeking to scope Italy successful the cardinal Mediterranean depart from Libya oregon Tunisia, authorities accidental an expanding fig of traffickers’ boats aiming for European shores are plying a way that begins successful Turkey and ends astatine the confederate extremity of the Italian peninsula.

Those rescued from traffickers’ unseaworthy rubber dinghies and woody boats that depart from North Africa are usually taken to Lampedusa, a tiny Italian island, oregon to ports successful Sicily. But those from Turkey are mostly taken to Calabria oregon Puglia successful the “heel” of the Italian mainland.

In Roccella Jonica, Red Cross volunteers aboriginal Sunday handed the migrants integrative clogs, blankets, nutrient and protective look masks arsenic portion of COVID-19 precautions. Authorities precocious acceptable up a structure operation to service arsenic impermanent lodging but it’s lone expected to clasp up to 120 people.

As of Nov. 12, 57,833 migrants person arrived successful Italy by oversea truthful acold this year.

In 2020, much than 31,000 arrived. In 2019, erstwhile anti-migrant person Matteo Salvini utilized his station arsenic interior curate to effort to thwart foundation boats from disembarking radical they rescued astatine sea, conscionable nether 10,000 arrived.