Migrants wait to disembark from an Italian Coast Guard vessel after being rescued in Porto Empedocle, Sicily, southern Italy, Wednesday, March 4, 2015. In a dramatic sea rescue north of Libya, a flotilla of rescue ships saved nearly 1,000 migrants and refugees, while 10 migrants perished in the southern Mediterranean, Italian officials said Wednesday. The rescue vessels, including from Italy's coast guard and navy, and three cargo ships, saved 941 people in seven separate operations that began Tuesday, Italy's coast guard said. The survivors were being ferried to southern Italian ports. The migrants had been aboard five motorized dinghies and two larger vessels. One of the larger boats capsized, and 10 bodies were spotted or plucked from the sea. According to Interior Ministry figures, 7,882 migrants arrived on Italian coasts in the first two months of this year, compared to 5,506 in that period in 2014. The coast guard said the migrants saved in the latest rescues claimed to be Syrians, Palestinians, Libyans, Tunisians or from sub-Saharan Africa. (AP Photo/Francesco Malavolta)
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