The Italian Coast Guard and Navy sent several ships on Friday to rescue 1,300 migrants in the central Mediterranean Sea. The Coast Guard announced in a statement that three of its ships are set to intervene 70 nautical miles south of the coast of Crotone in the Calabria region to rescue a large boat carrying approximately 500 migrants. Three other Coast Guard ships are working to rescue two additional boats with around 800 people on board. The "complex" rescue operations will continue in the coming hours due to the large number of people on the boats. The Italian Ministry of Defense has ordered the military ship Sirio to "intervene immediately" and is "heading to the site as quickly as possible to provide assistance."