Some 946 migrants were safely brought to the port of Catania on Tuesday (March 21) by the rescue ship Aquarius after being rescued at sea from flimsy wooden and rubber dinghies.
Many pregnant women were rescued from nine wooden and rubber boats with one Liberian woman giving birth in the early morning as the rescue ship began entering the Catania harbour. The woman, who has a husband and child still in Libya waiting to make the crossing, called her baby girl Mercy.
In total rescuers have picked up over 5,000 migrants from rubber boats off the coast of Libya in the last two days.
Boat arrivals to Italy have surged about 50 percent over to the same period last year.
(REUTERS)
