Eight bodies have been recovered and about 1,400 people saved in Mediterranean Sea migrant rescues, the Italian coastguard said Tuesday. The casualties add to this year's record tally of more than 4,600 dead or missing migrants during Mediterranean crossings, as estimated by the International Organization for Migration. Several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the EU naval mission Eunavfor Med Sophia were involved in Tuesday's total of 12 rescue missions, an Italian coastguard spokeswoman said. She added that three migrants, a woman under cardiac arrest and two other people suffering from severe hypothermia, were rushed by helicopter or speedboat to a hospital in the island of Lampedusa. One of the NGOs that came to rescue the migrants, MOAS, said in a separate statement that it picked up 117 survivors and one dead body from a sinking rubber boat. "Unfortunately many [more] are claimed to be missing. Survivors recount that several people drowned before [rescuers arrived on the scene], including the mother of two surviving children," MOAS said. The charity said it saved a total of about 600 people between Monday night and Tuesday morning, including "many Syrian families," and also recovered the body of another man on Sunday. It is unusual for Syrians to travel to Europe via Italy.
