Italy rescues nearly 600 migrants off Calabria, finds one dead | Al Jazeera

Italy’s coastguard has rescued nearly 600 people packed into overcrowded fishing boats in bad weather off the coast of Calabria, finding one person dead.

The 573 refugees and migrants were found overnight on board “two overloaded fishing boats and left at the mercy of waves with unfavourable weather conditions that were expected to worsen significantly”, the coastguard service said in a statement on Tuesday.

A large ship and three patrol boats aided in the rescue, which took place about 110km (70 miles) off Cape Spartivento at the southern tip of Calabria, it said.

Among those recovered was a body of a person who “had already been dead for a few days”, according to witnesses cited by the coastguard.

A patrol boat rushed another person in need of immediate medical care to the Calabrian port of Roccella Ionica.