Over 6000 African Migrants Rescued From Sea In A Single Day. Photos

 About 6,055 migrants were rescued on Monday as they tried to reach Europe on about 40 boats, one of the highest numbers in a single day. A statement said at least nine migrants had died and a pregnant woman and a child had been taken by helicopter to a hospital on the Italian island of Lampedusa, halfway between Sicily and the Libyan coast.

One coast guard ship rescued about 725 migrants on a single rubber boat, one of some 20 rescue operations during the day.

About 10 ships from the coast guard, the navy and humanitarian organizations were involved in the rescues, most of which took place some 30 miles off the coast of Libya. Inside the vessel, they found a number of bodies huddled together amid discarded shoes, clothes and blankets.

Monday was the third anniversary of the sinking of a migrant boat off Lampedusa in which 386 people died.

According to the International Organization for Migration, around 132,000 migrants have arrived in Italy since the start of the year and 3,054 have died.