Lampedusa: 400 Libyan migrants in dramatic sea rescue
More than 400 migrants from Libya had to be rescued by Italian coast guards after their fishing boat hit rocks on the small island of Lampedusa.
TV images of the dramatic night-time rescue showed some migrants jumping or falling into the sea.
Others held on to ropes strung between the boat and the shoreline as Italian coast guards helped them to shore.
It came hours after Pope Benedict urged Roman Catholics to show more tolerance towards migrants from north Africa.
At a Sunday mass for 300,000 people in Venice, he told them not to fear or reject the new arrivals, but to build bridges between peoples and nations, the BBC's David Willey reports.
All safe
Police official Fabrizio Pisanelli told Associated Press news agency that the boat's steering had stopped working as the vessel was nearing the port in Lampedusa shortly after 0400 (0200 GMT).
More than 400 migrants from Libya had to be rescued by Italian coast guards after their fishing boat hit rocks on the small island of Lampedusa.
TV images of the dramatic night-time rescue showed some migrants jumping or falling into the sea.
Others held on to ropes strung between the boat and the shoreline as Italian coast guards helped them to shore.
It came hours after Pope Benedict urged Roman Catholics to show more tolerance towards migrants from north Africa.
At a Sunday mass for 300,000 people in Venice, he told them not to fear or reject the new arrivals, but to build bridges between peoples and nations, the BBC's David Willey reports.
All safe
Police official Fabrizio Pisanelli told Associated Press news agency that the boat's steering had stopped working as the vessel was nearing the port in Lampedusa shortly after 0400 (0200 GMT).
BBC News
Comments