Italy to step up patrols in hope of saving migrants from shipwreck

A rescued migrant sits in a corridor while waiting to undergo preliminary medical tests at Mater Dei Hospital in Tal-Qroqq, outside Valletta, October 12, 2013. REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi

ROME (Reuters) - Italy is to step up naval and air patrols in the southern Mediterranean to try to prevent repeats of the shipwrecks which have drowned hundreds of African migrants in two separate disasters in little more than a week.

Prime Minister Enrico Letta said late on Saturday an "air and naval package" would be put in place south of Sicily, where tens of thousands of migrants in flimsy, overcrowded boats have made the crossing from Africa so far this year.