4,500 migrants were rescued from rubber dinghies in the Mediterranean Sea by Italy on Thursday.
Tens of thousands of Third world migrants are taking advantage of Europe’s open borders.
The Italian navy and coastguard rescued the African migrants from dozens of small boats headed for Europe.
The BBC reported:
The Italian navy and coastguard say they have rescued about 4,500 migrants from dozens of small boats in the Mediterranean during the course of Thursday.
A woman’s body was recovered from one of the vessels.
More favourable weather conditions have resulted in a major increase in the number of people leaving north Africa.
Many of the unseaworthy boats were spotted about 40km (25 miles) from the Libyan coast.
“We saved a total of about 4,500 people in about 40 rescue operations,” a coastguard spokesman told AFP news agency.
He added that the operations were continuing and the number might rise.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has recorded 55,563 migrant arrivals in Italy since the start of the year.
