Italian authorities said Saturday they had rescued 163 migrants stranded off the coast of Sicily, including 22 women and 12 children. They were found overnight on a 10-meter wooden vessel about 10 meters south of the town of Pozzallo, near Sicily's south-eastern tip, and taken to the port of Syracuse, according to DPA. Migrants escaping poverty or persecution often die on the perilous journey from North Africa to Europe aboard rickety boats.