Nearly 1,000 migrants rescued in Mediterranean in 24 hours

Ships from Norway and Denmark have picked up nearly 1,000 migrants from small boats off the coast of Libya in the past 24 hours.

Svein Kvalavaag, the captain of the Norwegian Siem Pilot vessel, said yesterday that he picked up 671 from two wooden boats north of the Libyan capital, Tripoli. Late last night, he was asked to take 99 more migrants who had been rescued by a Russian tanker.