ROME - Some 255 migrants were rescued overnight in the Mediterranean off the coast of Libya, just before a front of bad weather hit the area, the Italian coastguard said Tuesday.
The non-governmental organisation Proactiva Open Arms picked up a rubber dinghy carrying 134 people, including seven children, on Monday night. They were to be transferred to the Aquarius rescue ship operated by another NGO, SOS Mediterranee, before being taken to Pozzallo
in Sicily. A military ship from the European anti-smuggling operation Sophia also rescued 121 people aboard two other boats, the coastguard said. The Italian daily La Repubblica said smugglers have lowered the price of a crossing to 400 euros per person, in part due to the bad winter weather, but they are still cramming as many migrants as possible into the dinghies. In his Christmas address, Pope Francis urged the world not to forget the plight of migrants, who had been "driven from their land" because of leaders willing to shed "innocent blood".
No-one should feel "there is no room for them on this Earth," Francis told tens of thousands of worshippers gathered at the Vatican for his traditional "Urbi et Orbi" Christmas message.