Italy rescues nearly 1,800 migrants in Mediterranean

A child is helped during a rescue operation by Italian navy ship Grecale (unseen) off the coast of Sicily, Italy, in this handout picture courtesy of the Italian Marina Militare released on May 6 2016.

ITALY: Italian vessels have helped rescue nearly 1,800 migrants from boats trying to reach Italy from North Africa in the last 24 hours, the navy said on Friday, indicating that numbers are rising as the weather warms up.

The navy said 1,759 migrants were rescued in 10 operations involving the Italian navy, coastguard and finance police, the European Union's external borders agency Frontex and the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontiers.