DHAKA: At least 6,500 migrants were rescues off Libya making it one of the biggest rescues of its kind till now.

Quoting Italy coastguard officials BBC said some 40 coordinated rescue missions were operated about 20 kilometers off the Libyan town of Sabratha on Monday.

Over 1,000 migrants were rescued from the same place on Sunday.

Video footages showed that migrants, said to be from Eritrean and Somalia were cheering and swimming towards rescue vessels, some were seen carrying infants.

The latest operations involved vessels from Italy as well as the EU’s border agency Frontex and the NGOs Proactiva Open Arms and Medecins Sans Frontieres.

About 106,000 people have arrived in Italy so far this year while 2,726 have died in the attempt, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The IOM says there are a further 275,000 migrants in Libya waiting to travel.

So far this year, 284,000 migrants have entered Europe through various transit routes.

Last year, more than one million migrants, mostly fleeing from Syrian civil war, arrived in Europe. EU faced phases of division on how best to deal with the resettling people.

BDST: 1003 HRS, AUG 30, 2016
NR/SR