AlHijjah 17, 1434, Oct 22, 2013, SPA -- Almost 350 boat migrants arrived on Italy's southern shores on Tuesday, after authorities rescued them from distressed vessels in the Strait of Sicily during the last 24 hours. Some 250 would-be refugees landed in Syracuse, eastern Sicily, after being picked up on Monday afternoon by an Italian navy patrol around 100 nautical miles (185 kilometers) from the coast. A second landing took place overnight in Portopalo di Capo Passero, a village on Sicily's south-eastern tip, where a vessel with 93 migrants ran aground near the beach. The local coast guard intervened and steered it to the local port. A group of another 150 migrants from a third vessel was still out at sea, waiting to be transferred on to Italian vessels and escorted to mainland Sicily.
