. >>> and rescue crews, and international correspondent ben wideman went on a trip with the police. >> reporter: the salvatore police calls out on the radio, giving the coordinates. it's about 15 meters long with 150 people on board. he is part of the crew of an italian finance police surveillance plane in the mediterranean. >> this group of migrants is lucky, they have been rescued by what is a very active and wide-ranging rescue effort. we're only about 45 miles off the libyan coast. >> reporter: within minutes, a smaller boat dispatched arrives, the plane's high-powered cameras capturing the moment when it moves beside the dinghy. the lieutenant police has done this more times than he can count in his 28 years with the finance police. but he still can't get used to seeing these dinghys there in the water. we can't leave people, he says, we would feel guilty if they disappear from the screens, as long as we can see them, we're like guardian angels. those are human lives down there. his plane flies out of an italian island every day. the island is italy's southern-most area, close to