MOSCOW (Sputnik) — An Italian merchant ship managed to rescue 26 migrants from a boat off the Libyan coast, while 70 others are feared to have gone missing at sea amid attempts to reach the European shores, Italian media reported Saturday.
The boat was discovered just four miles off the Libyan coast near the city of Sabratha, the Si24 news outlet reported.
20 April 2016, 16:27 GMT
Late on Friday, the Italian coast guard reportedly received a call from a satellite phone that helped locate the sinking boat and called on the cargo ship to help save the migrants.
The European Union is currently struggling to manage an enormous refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa. More than 3,770 deaths of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea were recorded in 2015, according to the International Organization for Migration.
