Italy Coast Guard: 3,700 boat migrants rescued from smugglers, operations ongoing

File – Rescued migrants wait to disembark from an Italian Coast Guard ship in the harbor of Palermo, Sicily, southern Italy, Tuesday, April 14, 2015. The European Union says that more than 7,000 migrants have been plucked from the Mediterranean since Friday as an unprecedented wave of people flee conflict and poverty seeking better lives in Europe. (AP Photo)

Nearly 3,700 migrants were rescued from boats near the coast of Libya on Saturday and early Sunday and more rescue operations were expected during the day as people smugglers took advantage of calm seas, Italy’s coast guard said.

All of those rescued were being brought back to Italian shores, a spokesman for the coast guard said, and some reached Lampedusa, Italy’s southernmost island, during the night.

The nationalities of those rescued had not yet been determined, he said.