ROME: Around 6,800 migrants were rescued from overcrowded boats crossing to Europe over the weekend, including a mother who gave birth to a baby girl on an Italian navy ship, the coast guard said.
Numbers risking the journey in search of a better life have continued to rise two weeks after as many as 900 people drowned in the worst Mediterranean shipwreck in living memory.
Crew from the Italian naval vessel Bettica found the woman in labour on a boat overnight - one of 34 vessels intercepted over the weekend. A photo posted online showed her new daughter sleeping in a makeshift cradle decorated with a pink bow.
"Both mother and daughter are in good health," the navy said in a statement.
Police said officers rescued 21 immigrants in a boat off the southern coast of Spain on Monday.
On Sunday, seven bodies were found on two large rubber boats packed with migrants and three others died after jumping into the water when they saw a merchant ship approaching, the Italian coast guard said.
Many migrants who have made the sea crossing this year have been Eritreans, Somalis, Afghanis, Syrians and Nigerians, according to the UN refugee agency. Few details were available regarding the nationalities of those rescued over the weekend.
About 1,800 are estimated to have perished during the crossing already this year, the UN refugee agency said. Some 51,000 have entered Europe by sea, with 30,500 coming via Italy.
Italy has coordinated the rescues by its own navy and coast guard, a French ship acting on behalf of the European border control agency, merchant ships of various nationalities and one vessel run by the privately funded Migrant Offshore Aid Station.
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