Italian rescue ships save about 2000 migrants

A charity that rescues migrants has described the situation this weekend as "unprecedented" after going to the aid of people aboard nine boats in the Mediterranean Sea.

Eleven more migrants were pulled from a small vessel in the Mediterranean Sea after a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation aircraft alerted the rescue service.

In the central Mediterranean, it said there had been 2,074 rescues conducted by "various search-and-rescue (SAR) assets on Friday, including 134 rescued by the Phoenix".

Jugend Rettet spokeswoman Pauline Schmidt told AFP that a further 1,000 people remained to be rescued from inflatable dinghies and other craft, with the rescue ships reaching capacity.

It is understood one dead body was found during the rescue mission.

Since the beginning of this year, at least 590 migrants have died or gone missing along the Libyan coast, the International Organization for Migration said in late March.

The Italian coast guard says 19 rescue operations by the coast guard or ships operated by NGOs had saved a total of 2,074 migrants on 16 rubber dinghies.

It comes as EU's border control agency Frontex has accused donor-funded vessels of doing more harm than good.

It took 453 people on board its own ship, the Phoenix, while MOAS crew members supervised more than 1,000 others on "unseaworthy" vessels into the night, providing basic provisions and life jackets. Italian prosecutors have suggested the non-government affiliated groups have links to traffickers, a claim the groups have strongly denied.

More than 24,000 migrants arrived in Italy from Libya during the first three months of the year, up from 18,000 during the same period last year, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

However, the death toll for migrants crossing into Europe is much lower so far in 2017.

According to IOM, so far this year almost 800 migrants have died trying to cross the Mediterranean in the often unseaworthy vessels provided by human traffickers.