641 migrants arrive in Italy

The rescue vessel “Aquarius” of the humanitarian group SOS Mediterranee docked Thursday morning in the port of Catania, Sicily, carrying a total of 641 migrants rescued from boats at sea.

All of the 641 migrants were rescued from boats off the coast of Libya on Tuesday, November 22 , SOS Mediterranee said in a tweet.

No details of the migrants’ nationalities, age or health condition were immediately available.

Temporary shelters were set up for standard health and identification procedures in the port.

More than 168,000 migrants have reached Italy by boat this year, exceeding 154,000 for the whole of 2015 and quickly approaching 2014’s 170,000 record.

Italy has borne the brunt of new arrivals since the March implementation of an agreement between the European Union and Turkey to curb the flow of migrants sailing for Greece.

Reuters