Nearly 400 migrants rescued from boats on Christmas Eve

Some 371 migrants were pulled to safety from dinghies and boats in the Mediterranean on Thursday (December 24), the Italian coast guard said, releasing video of the rescue operations at sea.

The footage showed migrants traveling on rubber dinghies in calm seas.

According to the coast guard the migrants were transferred aboard the vessel "Corsi" and taken to southern Italy's Reggio Calabria region, where they arrived on Friday (December 25) afternoon.

No details of the migrants' countries of origin, age or health conditions were immediately available.

Eighteen people including six children drowned on Thursday after a boat carrying migrants sank off Turkey's western coastal town of Dikili, Dogan news agency reported.

The Turkish coast guard rescued another 21 migrants from the sea including a one-year-old baby and is still searching for two more people from the wooden boat, which capsized due to rough seas and overloading, the agency said.

The number of refugees and migrants arriving by land and sea in the European Union has passed 1 million this year, and almost 3,700 died or went missing, the International Organization for Migration said on Tuesday (December 22).

Despite the winter conditions and rough seas, the exodus has continued, albeit at a slower pace. Hundreds have died this year on this sea route.

Earlier this month, the European Union said it would nearly treble its spending on frontier defense and create a new 1,500-strong rapid reaction force under proposals to tackle the migration crisis. — Reuters