Italy launches rescue for hundreds of refugees on boats

Rome: The Italian coastguard has launched multiple rescue operations to save hundreds of refugees packed aboard boats off the Calabria region, less than two weeks after at least 73 people drowned in a shipwreck.

“The rescue operations … are particularly complex due to the large number of people on board the boats adrift,” the coastguard said in a statement.

Coastguard vessels were dispatched to rescue 500 people on a boat about 1,125km (700 miles) off the region that forms the toe of the boot-shaped Italian Peninsula.

Other vessels were sent to rescue 800 people on two more boats in difficulty about 160km (100 miles) off Calabria.

The coastguard has asked for additional help from a navy patrol boat, Italian news agency ANSA reported.