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STORY: The Italian coast guard on Saturday (July 26) released video of the rescue of 53 migrants from a rubber dinghy in the Strait of Sicily.
The majority of the migrants, including three women, were said to be of sub-Saharan origin.
An Icelandic aircraft participating in the European Frontex border management operations spotted the migrants at sea on Friday (July 25) and informed the coast guard headquarters in Rome of their position, the coast guard said.
The migrants were transferred onto a coast guard vessel and taken to land.
Calmer summer seas have led to a surge in people trying to reach Italy from North Africa. Italy has picked up more than 85,000 migrants so far this year in its search-and-rescue mission, called "Mare Nostrum" or "Our Sea", about 20,000 more than were picked up during the whole of 2013.
Italy's navy has been patrolling the waters between Africa and Sicily since October, when 366 people drow
