Hundreds of Migrants Rescued and 10 Dead in Sea Off Libya
Rick Jervis, 4:07 p.m. EDT
May 3, 2015
Ships rescued nearly 4,000 migrants in just one day from smugglers' boats on the Mediterranean Sea off the Libyan coast, the Italian Coast Guard said on Sunday.
Hundreds of migrants were rescued from at least 16 boats off Libya's coast Sunday, but at least 10 bodies were recovered in the rescue operations involving the Italian Coast Guard.
Coast Guard and commercial vessels took advantage of calm seas to rescue the groups of migrants. But those same calm seas motivated smugglers to send packed vessels across the Mediterranean.
The Coast Guard was being aided by a tug and a merchant ship in at least some of the rescue efforts.
Sunday's drama at sea came a day after 3,690 migrants were saved from smugglers' boats. Most of those migrants were still being taken to southern Italian ports even as the fresh rescues were taking place.
Italy and humanitarian officials have been warning for weeks that the smugglers' boats would continue to head toward Italian shores unabated, and that spells of mild weather and calm seas could see spikes in the arrivals.
Last year, a record-breaking 280,000 migrants were counted illegal crossing borders in the 28-country European Union, mainly fueled by the ongoing fighting in Syria, according to Frontex, the Europe's border agency. The fighting in Syria has caused the worst refugee crisis since World War II.
Some of the migrants rescued this weekend were brought to tiny Lampedusa island, while others were headed to ports in Sicily or in Calabria, in the south of the Italian mainland, on Monday. Temporary shelters for those rescued were running out of room for more even before this weekend's new arrivals, local authorities had warned.
In one of the more dramatic rescues, a cargo ship found three migrants dead and 105 survivors on a dinghy in the waters north of Tripoli, Libya. Another rescue involved 311 people, including 16 children, saved from a fishing boat in the smugglers' fleet.
In weather good or bad, smugglers often use aging vessels that sometimes begin leaking shortly after leaving Libya. The boats are crammed with too many people as traffickers try to maximize earnings off the migrants, who pay hundreds of euros (dollars) for the passage between the Mediterranean's southern shore and Italy.
It's not uncommon for thousands of migrants to be rescued over a day or two.
The relentless flood of migrants is continuing this year after 170,000 were rescued at sea by Italy in 2014 — a 277-percent increase over the numbers in 2013. Italy has pressed the European Union to do more to help it save the migrants, especially since many of those plucked to safety are asylum seekers hoping to reach relatives in northern Europe.
An estimated 800 migrants drowned last month when their boat capsized off Libya with hundreds of them locked in the hold by smugglers. After that, European Union officials at an emergency meeting agreed to beef up the Triton rescue mission with boats and patrol aircraft contributed by several countries. Italy, often pressing nearby cargo ships into service, coordinates the rescue operations.
Contributing: Associated Press
May 3, 2015
Ships rescued nearly 4,000 migrants in just one day from smugglers' boats on the Mediterranean Sea off the Libyan coast, the Italian Coast Guard said on Sunday.
Hundreds of migrants were rescued from at least 16 boats off Libya's coast Sunday, but at least 10 bodies were recovered in the rescue operations involving the Italian Coast Guard.
Coast Guard and commercial vessels took advantage of calm seas to rescue the groups of migrants. But those same calm seas motivated smugglers to send packed vessels across the Mediterranean.
The Coast Guard was being aided by a tug and a merchant ship in at least some of the rescue efforts.
Sunday's drama at sea came a day after 3,690 migrants were saved from smugglers' boats. Most of those migrants were still being taken to southern Italian ports even as the fresh rescues were taking place.
Italy and humanitarian officials have been warning for weeks that the smugglers' boats would continue to head toward Italian shores unabated, and that spells of mild weather and calm seas could see spikes in the arrivals.
Last year, a record-breaking 280,000 migrants were counted illegal crossing borders in the 28-country European Union, mainly fueled by the ongoing fighting in Syria, according to Frontex, the Europe's border agency. The fighting in Syria has caused the worst refugee crisis since World War II.
Some of the migrants rescued this weekend were brought to tiny Lampedusa island, while others were headed to ports in Sicily or in Calabria, in the south of the Italian mainland, on Monday. Temporary shelters for those rescued were running out of room for more even before this weekend's new arrivals, local authorities had warned.
In one of the more dramatic rescues, a cargo ship found three migrants dead and 105 survivors on a dinghy in the waters north of Tripoli, Libya. Another rescue involved 311 people, including 16 children, saved from a fishing boat in the smugglers' fleet.
In weather good or bad, smugglers often use aging vessels that sometimes begin leaking shortly after leaving Libya. The boats are crammed with too many people as traffickers try to maximize earnings off the migrants, who pay hundreds of euros (dollars) for the passage between the Mediterranean's southern shore and Italy.
It's not uncommon for thousands of migrants to be rescued over a day or two.
The relentless flood of migrants is continuing this year after 170,000 were rescued at sea by Italy in 2014 — a 277-percent increase over the numbers in 2013. Italy has pressed the European Union to do more to help it save the migrants, especially since many of those plucked to safety are asylum seekers hoping to reach relatives in northern Europe.
An estimated 800 migrants drowned last month when their boat capsized off Libya with hundreds of them locked in the hold by smugglers. After that, European Union officials at an emergency meeting agreed to beef up the Triton rescue mission with boats and patrol aircraft contributed by several countries. Italy, often pressing nearby cargo ships into service, coordinates the rescue operations.
Contributing: Associated Press
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