Italian coastguard saves 244 migrants stranded at sea - including baby born on day of rescue

The Italian coastguard has saved 244 migrants who were stranded at sea - including a baby born on the day of the rescue operation.

The migrants were found on a fishing boat about 50 miles from Calabria's coast on the night of 27 November, the coastguard said.

Rescuing them took 16 hours and involved the help of a vessel from Romanian Border Police.

There were 41 children onboard.

The Italian coastguard said the rescue mission was "complex" due to "prohibitive and worsening weather and sea conditions".

They released footage showing crews approaching the migrants and shouting "it's okay", before throwing a line to the packed boat and moving people on to a rescue vessel that brought them to shore.

Staff were later seen carrying the baby and a small child onto dry land.

It comes after 27 people died near Calais on Wednesday while trying to make their way to the UK.

On Friday, 487 migrants were saved by the Tunisian navy from an overloaded boat that ran into difficulty in rough waters in the Mediterranean Sea.

The vessel was carrying people from Egypt, Syria, Sudan, Pakistan, Ethiopia and the Palestinian territories, including 13 women and 93 children.

Many of those leaving from Africa and the Middle East are fleeing conflict and poverty in their native countries.

Earlier in the week the Italian coastguard rescued 296 people on a packed wooden boat that was in difficulty off the coast of the southernmost island of Lampedusa.

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Among them were 14 women and eight children.

Some of the migrants were already in the water when rescuers arrived "making the rescue particularly difficult," the coastguard said.

At least three people were seen being pulled out of the sea in video supplied by Italian authorities.