Fifteen migrants rescued off the coast of Sardinia, after having been at the mercy of the sea for 48 hours, adrift.
On board the small boat, which departed from the coast of Algeria, also three children and a woman.
The rescue was carried out in the night between Friday and Saturday by the Coast Guard of Cagliari and Sant'Antioco with the support of Frontex naval and air units.
The boat was found about 20 miles northwest of the island of San Pietro , where it had been pushed, probably following engine failure, by the strong sirocco wind of recent days.
The migrants were identified by a Frontex Beechcraft 350 plane, which took off from Lamezia Terme. Then the small boat was intercepted by the Coast Guard patrol boats which, in very rough sea conditions, proceeded to retrieve the people on board to take them to Portoscuso .
Here the first assistance procedures and the recognition operations began.
(Unioneonline / lf)