- Title: Hundreds of migrants arrive in Italy after surviving rough seas
- Date: 16th November 2016
- Summary: CATANIA, ITALY (NOVEMBER 16, 2016) (REUTERS) SHIP CARRYING RESCUED MIGRANTS DOCKED IN PORT VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS ON DECK WAITING TO DISEMBARK VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS WRAPPED IN BLANKETS STANDING ON DECK SHIP IN PORT WITH MIGRANTS ON DECK MIGRANTS WRAPPED IN BLANKETS MIGRANTS ON DECK LOOKING ON VARIOUS MIGRANTS STANDING ON DECK, WAITING TO DISEMBARK SHIP DOCKED IN PORT WITH MIGRANTS ON DECK MIGRANTS ON DECK MIGRANTS WAITING TO DISEMBARK SHIP / RESCUERS STANDING BY EMERGENCY VEHICLES BY SHIP WITH MIGRANTS ON DECK VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS WRAPPED IN BLANKETS ON DECK, LOOKING ON VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS WALKING DOWN GANGPLANK MIGRANTS ON GANGPLANK LOOKING ON AS THEY WAIT TO DISEMBARK MIGRANTS ON DECK WAITING TO DISEMBARK SHIP VARIOUS OF SHIP IN PORT WITH MIGRANTS ON DECK MIGRANTS WALKING DOWN GANGPLANK AS IT BEGINS TO RAIN MIGRANTS ON DECK BEING MOVED UNDER COVER AS IT BEGINS TO RAIN MIGRANTS ON DECK SHIELDING FROM HEAVY RAIN UNDER COVER SHIP IN PORT MIGRANTS WALKING DOWN GANGPLANK IN HEAVY RAIN MIGRANTS DISEMBARKING SHIP MIGRANTS LINED UP UNDER SHELTER IN PORT FOR STANDARD HEALTH AND IDENTIFICATION PROCEDURES MIGRANTS ON DECK WAITING TO DISEMBARK
- Embargoed: 1st December 2016 09:54
- Keywords: Mediterranean Sea migrants rescue coastguard Italy
- Location: CATANIA, ITALY
- City: CATANIA, ITALY
- Country: Italy
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00158OZN7R
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Tired and cold, hundreds of migrants who survived rough seas disembarked at the Sicilian port of Catania on Wednesday (November 16).
The migrants huddled on the deck of the rescue vessel, wrapped in thick blankets as heavy rain poured over them while they waited for their turn to walk down the gang plank.
Rescuers recovered one body and saved 298 people in the Mediterranean on Tuesday (November 15) amid poor weather conditions, a day after a rubber boat with an unknown number of people flipped in heavy seas, Italy's coast guard said.
The migrants were pulled from three different rubber boats, one of which had turned over, it said in a statement.
Sea conditions were challenging, with two-metre (six foot) waves and winds of up to 25 knots, a SOS Mediterranean spokeswoman said.
On Monday (November 14), an oil tanker pulled 15 people from the water about 30 nautical miles (55 km) off the Libyan coast after a rubber boat turned over in heavy seas, a coast guard spokesman said.
The coast guard would not estimate the number of missing.
Also on Monday, the SOS Mediterranean crew onboard Aquarius recovered five dead bodies from a rubber dinghy and the crew saw another person drown but was not able to recover the body.
The death toll in the Mediterranean has surged this year to 4,271 as of Nov. 14, compared to 3,777 in the whole of 2015, according to the International Organization for Migration.
The deadliest route is across the Mediterranean toward Italy from Libya, where smugglers have taken advantage of a breakdown of order to pack people into unseaworthy boats.
Arrivals to Italy this year, now at about 167,000, have already exceeded last year's 154,000. While last year departures dropped off from October as the weather conditions worsened, this year the decline has been less pronounced, Interior Ministry data show. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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