Ships from Denmark and Norway have picked up nearly 1,000 migrants from small boats off the coast of Libya in the past 24 hours.
Svein Kvalavaag, the captain of the Norwegian Siem Pilot vessel, said he picked up 671 from two wooden boats north of the Libyan capital, Tripoli. The ship was later asked to take 99 more migrants that had been rescued by a Russian tanker.
Kvalavaag told the Norwegian industry website maritime.no that the 770 people included 140 women, of whom three were pregnant, and 45 children. They were all brought to Italy's southern island Sicily.
Jesper Jensen, a spokesman for the Denmark-based Torm company, said its Singapore-flagged oil tanker Torm Arawa responded to call from the Italian coast guard after two boats carrying migrants were reported in distress off Libya.
Jensen said it picked up the 222 people, gave them food, water and blankets and brought them to a port in Calabria.
In the past months, thousands of migrants have been crossing the Mediterranean to reach Italy and Greece. Some 2,000 are missing and feared dead.
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