(VOVworld) – The Italy's coast guard reported Friday that almost 150 migrants have been saved off the country’s sea of Calabria during an attempt to reach Italy.

Migrants sit in their boat during a rescue operation by Italian navy ship Vega off the coast of Sicily (Photo: Reuters /Italian Navy)

A majority of them are women and children. According to the Italy’s functional forces, it took them almost 5 hours to rescue all the migrants. Over the past 18 months, more than 5,000 people have died while having attempted to reach Europe by way the Mediterranean Sea.