ROME — A flotilla of ships saved 668 migrants Saturday from smugglers' boats in distress in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya, Italian authorities said.
The rescue brings the week's total of migrants plucked from the sea to 13,000 people.
Survivors said two smugglers' fishing boats and a dinghy set sail Wednesday night from Libya's coast. A Save The Children spokesman, Giovanna Di Benedetto, said the survivors were among 500 or so aboard the one fishing boat that didn't sink and the dinghy.
Under a European Union deal, tens of thousands of those rescued at sea and seeking asylum were supposed to be relocated to other EU countries from Italy and Greece, where most of the migrants have landed.
But with resentment building in some European states about taking in more migrants, the plan never really took off, and only a small percentage of those slated for relocation have actually been moved.
Read Sunday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.