An Italian coastguard vessel on Friday rescued 131 migrants from a packed rubber dinghy in rough seas off Libya including 24 children and 12 women. All the migrants were reported to be in good health.
Also on Friday, three children drowned off the Greek coast when a migrant boat sank off the island of Agathonissi after setting sail from Turkey, Greek coastguard said.
A rescue boat operate by a charity managed to rescue 20 people from the boat before it sank.
Migrant arrivals in Europe by sea averaged over 1,700 per day during the first 14 days of this year, the International Organisation for Migration said on Friday.
At least 59 people drowned in the Mediterranean over the period, compared with almost 4,000 last year, the IOM said. Over 1.4 million people arrived in Europe by sea in 2015, according to IOM.
