Italian coast guard rescues 1,000 boat migrants

Italy's coast guard went to the rescue of at least 1,000 migrants in difficulty in the sea between Europe and North Africa on Sunday, the third operation of its kind in as many days.

The coast guard said it had plucked more than 130 people from two rubber boats about 180 km (110 miles) south of the island of Lampedusa so far, and was working to save eight more vessels.

"We are certainly at more than 1,000 migrants" involved in Sunday's rescue operation, a spokesman for the coast guard in Rome told Reuters. (Reuters)

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