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Italy responds to 3 boats in distress carrying 1,300 migrants
The Italian Coast Guard responded Friday to three boats carrying more than 1,300 migrants "at risk" in the Mediterranean Sea off Italy's southern coast, officials said. Coast Guard vessels were dispatched to rescue ab...
Updated: 39 months ago2 min read
Italy's Coast Guard responded on Friday to three boats carrying more than 1,300 migrants "at risk" in the Mediterranean Sea off Italy's southern coast, officials said.
The Italian Coast Guard responded Friday to three boats carrying more than 1,300 migrants "at risk" in the Mediterranean Sea off Italy's southern coast, officials said.
Coast Guard vessels were dispatched to rescue about 500 people on a smugglers' boat about 700 miles off the tip of Calabria. Coast Guard teams also rescued 800 migrants from two boats in distress about 100 miles off Calabria.
The rescue operation comes nearly two weeks after a shipwreck off Calabria killed at least 73 migrants fleeing Turkey. Another 80 were rescued, but others are missing and presumed dead.
Prosecutors are investigating whether the Italian authorities failed to respond appropriately to a ship flying the flag of the EU border protection agency Frontex. Instead of using Coast Guard boats for the rescue, they sent border patrol boats on a police action.
Four smugglers were arrested in this case, including one by the Austrian authorities.
Italy firmly denies any responsibility for the sinking and takes new measures to combat smugglers.
Frontex reported that in the first two months of this year the number of crossings in the dangerous central Mediterranean more than doubled, with the number of illegal crossings topping 12,000.In the last month alone, that number has tripled from a year earlier to 7,000.
The United Nations Migration Agency estimates that about 300 people have died or are missing along the dangerous central Mediterranean route this year.
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