Italy rescues 47 migrants from capsized boat near Lampedusa

Rome, Feb 20 – The Italian Coast Guard and the Guardia di Finanza have rescued 47 migrants this morning from a boat that had capsized 15 miles south of the island of Lampedusa, the Coast Guard reported in a statement.
The operation took place at 3:30 am (2:30 GMT). The Coast Guard and the Guardia di Finanza rescued 47 people from the waters and the Coast Guard of Catania (in Sicily, south) immediately deployed a helicopter to search for possible missing persons.
The Coast Guard has indicated in the note that “tonight’s rescue occurs at the end of a particularly intense day from the operational point of view due to the high number of boats with migrants reported yesterday”, Friday.
In parallel, the “Aita Mari”, the ship of the Spanish NGO Salvamento Marítimo Humanitario (SMH), rescued 102 migrants on Friday, including a baby and 8 women, who are waiting on board for a European Union country authorize them a port.
At the moment Malta has already refused them the landing on the island and the crew awaits a response from the Italian authorities.
On Friday “Aita Mari” also helped 46 migrants who were on a barge whose engine had stopped, near Lampedusa, and gave them life jackets.
These people managed to restart the engine of the boat and continued sailing towards the European shores.