Italy's coast guard rescue 3,200 boat refugees, recover one body

Some 3,200 refugees were plucked from overcrowded boats off the coast of Libya on Tuesday and one dead body was recovered, Italy's coast guard said, as people smugglers operating in Libya took advantage of calm seas and warm weather.

A coast guard spokesman said the smugglers had sent at least 26 boats toward Italy, the latest in a tide of refugees fleeing war and poverty in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Three Italian navy ships took part in rescues, picking up more than 1,000 of those brought to safety. British and Spanish ships operating within the European Union's anti-people-smuggling mission also conducted rescues.

The Doctors Without Borders charity and migrant rescue groups MOAS and Sea Watch also participated. An Irish navy ship and a private tug boat completed the cast of rescuers.

A deal struck between the EU and Turkey and border closures have helped to stem the flow of refugees from the Middle East and Asia coming through Turkey and Greece. But Italy has received about the same number of refugees setting off from North Africa in 2016 as during the same period of 2015.

As of Monday, 79,861 refugees had arrived in Italy by sea, compared with 83,119 during the same period of in 2015, while the number of refugees arriving in Greece from Turkey was down 95 %. Almost 3,000 boat refugees have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean this year, according to the International Organisation for Migration.