Proactiva Open Arms crew conduct a search and rescue operation in the Mediterranean sea, 12 nautic miles from the Libyan coast, Thursday, April 13, 2017. The Libyan coast guard says 97 migrants are missing and believed drowned after their Europe-bound boat sank on a perilous crossing of the Mediterranean Sea. (Bernat Armangue/Associated Press)ROME — Profit-hungry smugglers are taking advantage of calm seas off Libya to launch unseaworthy boats, crowded with migrants, toward Italy. It also distributed life vests to 1,000 migrants still on smugglers’ boats who are awaiting transfers to the rescue ships that will bring them to southern Italian ports. Italian news reports say the rescued migrants came from Africa, Syria, Pakistan, Bangladesh and elsewhere.

Source: Washington Post April 16, 2017 15:00 UTC