UNITED NATIONS, May 13 (APP): Some 1,000 people of various nationalities, including refugee families and unaccompanied children, have been rescued from the Mediterranean Sea, the UN refugee agency said Friday.
In one operation carried out on Thursday, about 500 people travelling in two fishing boats that had departed several days earlier from Egypt were rescued off Sicily, south east of Cape Passero, William Spindler, spokesperson of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a regular bi weekly news briefing to reporters at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
According to the Italian Coastguard, there are some Syrians and Iraqis among this group, as well as people from other nationalities.
