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The Italian coastguard has carried out two large-scale operations to rescue nearly 1,200 migrants from overcrowded boats off the coast of Sicily, the BBC reports.

About 800 people were traveling on one of the fishing boats, and another 400 migrants were on another such boat.

The country's coast guard has already rescued about 2,000 people in other operations since Friday.

They rescued 92 migrants from an overcrowded boat in the Mediterranean

The number of migrant arrivals in Italy rose sharply compared to the same period last year, despite efforts by the right-wing coalition government to curb illegal migration.

An operation to rescue the 800 people on one boat was underway southeast of Syracuse, but the operation was complicated by overcrowding, the Coast Guard said.

According to the monitoring group IOM Missing Migrants Project, more than 26,000 people have died or gone missing at sea in the central Mediterranean since 2014.

migrant boat