Italian navy helping migrants (FILE PHOTO)

No fewer than 3,000 migrants were rescued trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea on Thursday, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), has said.

The UN migration agency also reported that more than a dozen rescue operations were underway in the area.

IOM spokesperson Joel Millman said on Friday that 2,139 migrants were rescued on May 18 alone through more than a dozen different operations in Mediterranean international waters.

“Additionally, IOM learned of about 500 people rescued in Libyan waters that day.”

He said that while the exact numbers of casualty were not known, IOM’s Libya office had reported the remains of six migrants that were found over the past four days in various spots and communities on the Libyan coast.

Milkman also gave information on the numbers of migrants who crossed from Greece in the first four months of 2017.

“Almost 6,000 people came from Greece in 2017, 5,200 at the end of April, which was a low number compared to the numbers in 2016 and 2015.

“Of those 6,000, half came from Syria and Iraq.

“Following those two countries, are Congo, Algeria, Kuwait and Cameroon, ahead of countries like Afghanistan and Iran, that were countries of origin of many migrants in the past,” Millman said. (NAN)