Migrant boat traffic in the Mediterranean rose sharply this week amid warm weather and calm seas. Officials say more than 80 people were rescued in the second such incident in two days. Nicastro said of the eight operations concluded, some 1,000 migrants have been rescued.
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Di Giacomo said it was rare for such large, heavy ships to be used by migrants seeking to reach Europe from Libya.
Albanian naval and air forces, law enforcement and emergency bodies have held exercises in the Adriatic Sea to prepare for the event of humanitarian situations in a refugee crisis.
Francesco Iavazzo, the skipper of the Bettica patrol boat, said they survivors were brought back from the jaws of death amidst the drama.
Time for Congresscritter Trey Gowdy to reschedule the Refugee hearing he dodged having past year! Italian Coast Guard. Cmdr. The images showed a rickety fishing boat tipping over, sending hundreds of people – many clad in orange life vests – tumbling into the sea.
The blue boat tipped over after refugees on board rushed together to one side on spotting a rescue ship coming towards them – a common mistake that has been causing similar accidents at sea.
The EU force, known as Operation Sophia, was set up to fight people smuggling in the south-central Mediterranean, but it can not enter Libyan waters without an invitation from the government, of which there are two vying for power in Tripoli and Benghazi. Over 500 people were saved but at least five migrants lost their lives. The Italian coast guard responded with two rescue vessels to the location some 30 miles (50 kilometers) off Libya’s coast.
Some migrants dived off the boat.
A helicopter and several rubber boats were deployed in the rescue operation. Later, the rescued people were taken to Sicily, where almost 40,000 migrants have arrived so far this year. Thursday’s wreck comes a day after another boat capsized on the same route killing at least five.
More than three dozen smuggling vessels have required rescue in the southern Mediterranean since the start of the week, according to the navy.
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Over the same period, migration to Greece – the main entry point for the bulk of illegal migrants into the European Union – has dropped 67%. The majority of passengers are now from sub-Saharan Africa, fleeing conflict and repressive regimes in Nigeria, Somalia, Gambia and Eritrea.
