UK Flagship Brings Hundreds Of Migrants Ashore

A British Navy warship has taken ashore hundreds of migrants who were trying to make the perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea.

HMS Bulwark was carrying 741 people - including dozens of young children - rescued from overcrowded, rickety vessels.

Crew members helped them ashore in the coastal city of Taranto, in southern Italy, on Saturday morning.

More than 360 of the migrants were plucked to safety when crew spotted an overloaded, wooden craft trying to cross waters north of Libya on Thursday.

HMS Bulwark's Commanding Officer Captain Nick Cooke-Priest said he was sure the migrants would have died without help.

He said some of the children were "horrifyingly young".

On Friday, Italian, German and Irish naval ships rescued a total of 4,200 migrants in the Mediterranean, but also found 17 bodies on the vessels.

Distress calls were made from 22 migrant boats, many off Libya but also off the southern Italian coast.

It was one of the largest numbers of people rescued in a single day in recent years.

So far, the busiest days this year have been the rescue of 3,791 migrants on 12 April and 3,690 on 2 May.

The 17 bodies were found on three dinghies, from which more than 300 migrants were rescued alive, the Italian navy said on Twitter.

There was no information on how they died. In previous incidents, migrants have died from hunger, thirst and violence on board the often crammed and flimsy vessels.

More than 40,400 boat migrants have been taken to Italy since the start of the year - compared with 41,243 in the same period last year.

Many were fleeing violence and poverty in countries such as Syria and Eritrea.

Some 1,770 migrants have died on the hazardous journey to Europe this year, according to the latest International Organization for Migration (IOM) report, which does not include Friday's rescue.

This represents a 30-fold increase on the same period in 2014.

The huge rise in the number of people trying to cross the Med in recent weeks has been attributed to the worsening crisis in Libya and milder weather.

"It happens a lot in waves, you could have a few days where nothing happens, then there can be a high number of arrivals at the same time," said Flavio di Giacomo, a spokesman for the IOM in Italy.

EU ministers approved plans for a military operation to fight people smugglers in the Med after more than 800 people died on a boat travelling from Libya last month.

Proposals to destroy migrant smugglers' boats in Libyan ports still need UN approval.

The European Commission wants the rest of the 28-nation bloc to share Italy, Greece and Malta's migrant burden - something the UK is opposed to.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has promised a "constructive" role as Britain pushes for EU reforms, including stopping migrants abusing state welfare systems.