This is the moment the Italian Coast Guard uses rescue divers and inflatable rafts to save 125 migrants stranded on a small island surrounded by razor-sharp rocks.

The rescue mission took place after a group of migrants were left stranded on a beach on Rabbit Island, a few kilometres west of Lampedusa in Sicily, Italy, early on 9th September.

According to the Guardia Costiera (Coast Guard), the migrants used a barge, found sinking nearby, to keep themselves afloat before reaching the island.

Guardia Costiera sent the CP 324 and CP 319 patrol boats to save the migrants stranded on the small island.

The press release said: “The rescue was particularly complex due to the rough sea and the presence of jutting cliffs.”

With the help of a rescue swimmer who reached the island, the migrants were saved by placing them on a floating mattress which was then pulled in by one of the rescue boats.

The 125 migrants, including 49 women and 20 minors, were successfully saved and were taken to the port of Lampedusa.

The Guardia Costiera reported that all of the rescued migrants were in good physical health but in a state of shock from the incident.

It is still unclear how and why they reached the small island.

The news site La Stampa said there were seven migrant landings in Lampedusa that day, including this one.

After landing in Lampedusa, they were taken to the district of Imbriacola where they were tested for COVID-19 and began identification procedures.

According to La Stampa, since the start of this year, Italy has marked the arrival of 41,000 migrants, of them 12,000 were Tunisian, over 5,000 came from Bangladesh, 3,600 from Egypt, and 2,800 from the Ivory Coast.