Rescue operations continued to save migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. The Italian coast guard, alongside non-profit organizations Jugend Rettet Iuventa, Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS), Sea Eye and SOS Mediterranee rescued at least 3,000 migrants on unseaworthy rubber dinghies and wooden boats from the Mediterranean off the coast of Libya on Saturday. More than 2,000 migrants were rescued in the Mediterranean Sea on Friday, meaning more than 5,000 migrants have been saved in the previous 48 hours. The Italian coast guard said there were 35 rescue missions during the day on Saturday, with 15 still underway under the night sky. Jugend Rettet Iuventa told AFP there were 1,000 migrants still waiting to be rescued from rubber dinghies and other crafts on the water. Primarily non-governmental ships were expected to work to save the migrants overnight. "We have never had to deal with so many people at the same time," Jugend Rettet Iuventa spokeswoman Pauline Schmidt told AFP. Not everyone could be saved There were six migrants found dead during Saturday's rescue operations. SOS Mediterranee said one man was found dead on the dinghies and rafts while it rescued 500 migrants. A spokesman for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said five migrants drowned while fishermen in the area saved 101 migrants from their sinking boat.

Easter drama for migrants off Libya w boat sinking. 101 rescued by fishermen, five died pic.twitter.com/1QfDbSStZ9

— Leonard Doyle (@LeonardDoyle) April 15, 2017

EU border control agency Frontex has accused non-government groups rescuing migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Libya into Europe of acting "like taxis." Italian prosecutors have suggested the non-government affiliated groups have links to traffickers, a claim the groups have strongly denied.

More than 24,000 migrants have crossed the Mediterranean Sea from Libya to Italy over the first three months of 2017, much more than the 18,000 that crossed during the same time period in 2016, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

However, the death toll for migrants crossing into Europe is much lower so far in 2017. The IOM says nearly 800 migrants have died trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea in 2017. More than 5,000 migrants died in the Mediterranean Sea in 2016.

First published April 16, 2017

kbd/bw (AFP, dpa)

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