Rescuers picked up 560 migrants from unsafe boats off the coast of Libya on Thursday, Italy's coast guard said, including the body of a young man who the migrants said had been shot by smugglers on the beach for his baseball cap.
Italian navy and coast guard boats participated in the rescues together with two humanitarian vessels, a spokesman said. The migrants were traveling on board two large rubber boats and five small wooden ones, he added.
The Phoenix, a rescue ship operated by the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS), took 422 on board, plus the body of the allegedly murdered young Gambian.