Some 1,000 migrants have been saved from leaky boats in the central Mediterranean and one person was found dead, Italy's coast guard has said.
An Italian coast guard ship, the Spanish humanitarian group Proactiva Open Arms and a Caribbean-registered supply vessel went to the aid of six rubber dinghies and three wooden vessels yesterday.
A dead body was recovered from one of the rubber boats, the coast guard said in a statement. They gave no details about the migrants' nationalities.
Video released by the coast guard showed the moment one of the boats started taking in water and the migrants scrambled to get onto the coast guard vessels that had come to their rescue.
The sea crossing from Libya to Italy, operated by people smugglers based in the North African state, is now the main route for migrants seeking better lives in Europe.
A record 181,000 mainly African boat migrants reached Italy last year, pushing the total number of arrivals in the past three years over half a million.
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