Italy Rescues 2,000 Migrants

The Italian coast guard rescued more than 2,100 migrants in the Mediterranean Sea Sunday and took the migrants to Italian ports. They were arriving in about a dozen boats that were not adequate for sailing the Mediterranean.

Maurizio Lupi, Italy's transport minister, said that four smugglers threatened the coast guard with Kalishnakovs and forced the coast guard to return one of the boats to the smugglers, once it was emptied of migrants.

In the past year, more than 150,000 migrants, many of whom are escaping war-torn countries, have arrived to Italy by sea and at least 3,500 people died trying to cross the Mediterranean. The United Nations has said that the Mediterranean sea crossing is the most dangerous route in the world.

The Italian coast guard also rescued 600 migrants Friday in the Mediterranean. Last week 300 migrants died when trying to cross the sea in dinghies.

Italy has scaled back its sea rescue missions, since the EU has refused to provide more financial support to the program. It costs about $10 million a month for Italy to provide its search and rescue operations.

As Libya has become increasingly unstable over the past few months, Italy has seen a surge of migrants by sea.