Italy seeks to rescue 1,200 people aboard boats from the European immigration crisis.

The Italian coastguard is carrying out two large-scale operations to rescue around 1,200 migrants from overcrowded boats off the coast of Sicily. At least two people died during the weekend's boat crossings, according to German non-profit ResQship. The boat carrying 400 people, believed to have set out from Tobruk in Libya, was still without help late on Monday evening. Two merchant vessels near one of the ships had been ordered not to help with rescue efforts by Malta while the boat was in Maltese waters. An operation to rescue the 800 people on the other boat is also under way south-east of Syracuse, but the operation has been complicated by overcrowding on board. According to monitoring group IOM Missing Migrants Project, more than 26,000 people have died or gone missing at sea in the central Mediterranean since 2014.