Migrants rests after disembarking from Dignity ship in the Sicilian harbour of Augusta, Italy, October 19, 2016. PHOTO: REUTERS
Nine migrants drowned, 10 missing and 1,000 rescued off Libya
The migrants were on rubber boats and other small vessels, it said in a statement.
Some 20 operations were carried out on Saturday alone, including rescues involving an Irish naval ship and boats from humanitarian groups Doctors Without Borders and Sea Watch.
Over 6,000 migrants plucked from sea in a single day, nine dead
Doctors Without Borders said in a tweet on Saturday it believed 12 people had died during rescue operations, four of them children.
More than 3,100 migrants have gone missing or died this year while trying to use the route from north Africa to Europe by boat, the International Organization for Migration estimates.
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