In this 28 May file photo, immigrants are seen being assisted by medical workers as they arrive to shore after being rescued from sea, in Tarifa, Spain. Nine illegal immigrants were rescued from the sea as they were trying to reach the Spanish coast in the Straight of Gibraltar.
QNA/Rome
A massive surge of 3,000 migrants landed on Italian shores from North Africa Saturday, threatening to overwhelm maritime forces at times.
Most of the boats were spotted out at sea. The passengers either boarded waiting Italian ships or had their boats towed to Sicily.
The bulk of recent arrivals have been people from Syria fleeing the civil war.
One navy ship, the Libra, picked up 450 migrants. It was accompanied by a tugboat carrying 1,300. A fishing boat with 250 migrants on board was towed into the port of Ragusa.
All were expected to reach dry land by some point Saturday.
Another 800 Syrian migrants were headed on Italian vessels for the Sicilian port of Empedocle.
To save time, the navy also dropped rescued migrants on the island of Lampedusa, although it was officially closed months ago to new arrivals after local residents complained about the burden, reported the Ansa news agency.
There were already 266 migrants there Saturday, with about 200 more on the way.
Italy has stepped up its maritime rescue operations after tragedies in recent months that claimed hundreds of lives when migrant ships capsized.
The knowledge that there is a rescue mission has prompted migrants to attempt the sea crossing in ever greater numbers.
Italy has demanded that its EU partners boost assistance to the Italian effort, arguing that Italy cannot be solely responsible for dealing with the flood of migrants seeking to make their way to Europe.
