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Migrants still taking risky trips across Mediterranean

Thousands of migrants flooding to Europe trying to escape war, poverty and violence in Africa and the Middle East were rescued Sunday
Thousands of migrants rescued on Mediterranean Sea 01:39

ROME -- Another humanitarian crisis continues to unfold in the Mediterranean Sea. Migrants are flooding to escape war, poverty and violence in Africa and the Middle East. Thousands had to be rescued Sunday. At least 10 didn't make it.

Cast adrift like so much flotsam in barely seaworthy boats just outside Libyan territorial waters, this is the illegal migrant version of a luxury cruise. Luxury because the seas were calm and the Italian navy was on hand to rescue them.

Over the course of a weekend described as "very busy" due in part to smugglers taking advantage of the good weather, some 5,800 people and counting -- including women and children -- have been saved by 10 Italian vessels, four private boats and a French ship.

"60 Minutes" follows migrants fighting to survive 03:48

A single packed boatload of migrants can earn the smugglers as much as $90,000 with minimal overheads and little fear of being caught or punished. Two suspected smugglers were among those picked up by the Italians, and migrants told of being brutalized while they waited for their place on a boat.

"In Libya we were beaten and humiliated, in Libya life is hard," said one migrant.

Nearly 2,000 migrants are believed to have died on the short crossing from North Africa to Europe since January, but as many as 200,000 are expected to try to make the trip this year.

Most end up on the Italian islands of Lampedusa or Sicily, but want to move on.

European countries have been unable to agree on rules or quotas for accepting them and the migrants are too desperate to care.

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