1st LD Writethru: 28 dead, three babies born among thousands rescued migrants: Italy's coast guard

Twenty-eight bodies were recovered among thousands of migrants rescued in the last two days, the Italian Coast Guard said on Wednesday.

Three babies have also been born on board of the Dattilo vessel of the Coast Guard involved in the rescue missions, and they were all in good health conditions.

Overall, more than 10,000 migrants were saved in the waters of the Strait of Sicily, between Libya and Italy, during 72 rescue operations since Monday, the Coast Guard added.

Some 4,665 migrants were rescued on Tuesday only, while sailing on board of 27 dinghies, five small ships, and one barge.

They added to 6,000 people rescued off the Libyan coasts the day before. At least nine dead were reported among them.

The 28 latest victims were mostly discovered on board of one of the unsafe boats assisted, which was overloaded with some 1,000 people.

All of the rescued migrants were brought to various Italian ports, and were believed to be mostly Africans of Sub-Saharan origins.

The latest operations involved three coast guards boats and one Italy's navy ship, along with other naval forces from Irish navy, European Union (EU) borders agency Frontex, and some private vessels from commercial companies and humanitarian groups.

Some 131,860 migrants and refugees have arrived in Italy from January up to Oct. 2, according to the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR. They had been 153,842 in the same period last year.

At least 3,521 were reported dead or missing in the southern Mediterranean so far. Endit