Migrants are seen on a capsizing boat before a rescue operation by Italian navy ships "Bettica" and "Bergamini" (unseen) off the coast of Libya in this handout picture released by the Italian Marina Militare on May 25, 2016. Marina Militare/Handout via RE
Cairo – 26 December 2017: About 250 migrants were rescued in the Mediterranean Sea during the night between Monday and Tuesday, the Italian Coast Guard said in a statement on Tuesday.
The statement added that the migrants were in a large rubber boat and two small boats before being rescued by two ships, one of which was non-governmental.
After pressure from officials working for the United Nations-backed government in Tripoli on human traffickers to prevent illegal immigration, immigrants to Italy have declined by two-thirds since July.
Italy also promotes the Libyan Coast Guard's ability to return boats. Last week, the United Nations began transferring African refugees to Italy from Libya after being evacuated from detention centers described by human rights organizations as “inhumane.”
In 2015, most migrants travelled to Europe via the eastern Mediterranean route from Turkey to Greece. Some 150,000 arrived in Italy by sea via the Mediterranean Sea route in the same year. Within a year, that number had risen to about 180,000, with 90 percent leaving Libya, according to the global observatory w
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