( CNN ) They were huddled in the back of a tugboat . Some were without shoes . Their coats and jackets , still wet , were piled up in a huge container behind them . The 117 migrants , mostly from sub-Saharan Africa , arrived in the port of Augusta , Sicily , around 1p.m . Tuesday , after being picked up by the tugboat off the coast of Libya . The two boats they had been in were barely seaworthy , the tug 's Montenegrin captain told me . The discarded coats , he said , would be thrown away . We had flown to Sicily from Rome following news that as many as 400 migrants had been lost at sea . The tragedy adds to the mounting death toll among those fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East . So far this year as many as 900 have lost their lives . Last year at least 3,200 died making the journey . Since 2000 , according to the International Organization for Migration ( IOM ) , almost 22,000 people have died fleeing across the Mediterranean . Thousands may have died , but even more have succeeded in making the treacherous journey . This small group in Augusta were among nearly 10,000 migrants who have arrived on Italian shores since the weekend , according to the Italian Coast Guard . With the onset of spring and calmer seas , it appears that the flow of migrants is not relenting . The group , which included 31 women , was composed mostly of Nigerians and Gambians . As they filed off the boat , representatives of the Italian Red Cross did a quick visual inspection , checking for fever , scabies , any sign of illness . One woman , they discovered , was two months pregnant . Timothy , in his mid-20s from Nigeria , told me he left his home nine months ago . He paid human traffickers in Tripoli 1,000 Libyan dinars , more than $ 700 , for the voyage . For him , it 's a fortune . I asked 28-year-old Jibril , from Gambia , why he had left his home . `` It 's not like in Europe , '' he told me . `` After 20 , 25 years , you have to make a future for yourself . But in Gambia , I could n't . My family , they do n't have nothing . They are poor people . '' Mercy , from Kano in northern Nigeria , seemed shell-shocked . In a faint voice she told me she had left Kano because her family feared she that would be taken by Boko Haram . `` I was scared , '' 25-year-old Al-Haji from Gambia told me about the journey from Libya . `` I was taking a big risk . Either I enter Europe or I die . '' Another man , from Liberia , told me he had lived and worked in Libya for 15 years , but was terrified at the prospect of ISIS gaining even more territory . An Egyptian translator working for the Italian police told me they had information that a large group of Syrians were gathered in a Tripoli warehouse , and were expected to make the journey to Italy in the coming days . It seems that all the victims of the multiple tragedies and woes of Africa and the Middle East -- grinding poverty , war and the rise of ISIS -- are washing up on the shores of Italy . The wars , unrest , upheaval , misery and injustice I 've covered over the last 20 years , in Syria , in Libya , in West Africa and elsewhere , seem to be coming together to remind those who have enjoyed Europe 's relative peace and prosperity that no man is an island . The small group of migrants in Augusta has been taken in by the Italian authorities . They 've been fed , clothed , received medical treatment , and will be taken to migrant camp in northern Italy . Most will then try move further north , to countries like France , Belgium , the Netherlands and the UK , where economic opportunities are better than in austerity-wracked Italy . Others will stay in Italy , trying to eke out a living in the twilight economy as street vendors and beggars . And as they settle in , somehow or other , more and more will come to Italy 's shores .
Migrants rescued in Italy , Augusta tell CNN why they fled . They were packed onto two barely seaworthy boats , tug captain said .