17 Bangladeshi migrants were rescued on Sunday from a Libyan shipwreck in the Mediterranean sea.
All the survivors were transferred into Coast Guard patrol boats from the merchant ship on Monday, reports Italian Media ANSA.
Reception services have already been set up at the quay with the staff of the provincial medical agency ASP and Red Cross and the USMAF emergency doctors, as well as the police.
The migrants, once disembarked, will be transferred to the Pozzallo hotspot.
Earlier on Sunday, the Mediterranean Saving Humans charity had tweeted that according to several sources, the vessel, travelling in the direction of Italy, had capsized about 177km (110 miles) northwest of Benghazi.
Alarm Phone – another charity, which picks up calls from migrant vessels in distress – said on Twitter that it had first alerted authorities on Saturday, emphasising that the boat, which was carrying 47 people, needed immediate rescue.
After an initial rescue attempt by a merchant ship failed due to bad weather, Libyan authorities asked Rome for help given that they lacked the means to carry out the rescue, the coast guard’s statement added.
Rome then requested merchant ships in the area to join the rescue efforts, noting that the capsize occurred outside Italy’s search and rescue area.
However, the migrant vessel turned over during an attempt to transfer people into the “FROLAND” merchant ship on Sunday morning, it said.
Italy’s capabilities to rescue refugees and migrants at sea have come under scrutiny following a February 26 shipwreck near the southern region of Calabria, in which at least 79 people died.
Italy’s government is facing a backlash after sharp criticism that it failed to intervene in time to save the passengers.
On Saturday, the coastguard said that more than 1,300 migrants and refugees had been rescued in three separate operations off the southern tip of Italy, with a further 200 saved off Sicily.
