Italian vessels and European charities were involved in separate rescue missions in recent days. The result, the recovery of 5 bodies and over 1,200 migrants rescued.
Italian vessels recovered five bodies and rescued 674 people packed on a fishing boat. It was adrift in the Mediterranean off the Libyan coast, the Italian Coast Guard said on Sunday. In the meantime, European charities reported saving at least 500 more.
Some of the survivors were pulled from the sea in the Italian operation on Saturday. It took place 190 kilometres off the coast of Calabria by a navy mercantile ship, three Coast Guard patrol boats and a financial police boat. All of those rescued were brought to ports in Calabria and Sicily.
The causes of death for the five dead were not immediately known.
One of a series of rescues
The Coast Guard said it was just one in a series of rescues in recent. In one case, a helicopter was called to evacuate a woman in need of medical treatment from a migrant boat.
In separate operations, the German charity Sea-Watch said it rescued 444 migrants on overcrowded smugglers’ boats. The Sea-Watch 3 vessel carried out the five operations over 24 hours. The organization reported that those who were rescued included a pregnant woman and a man with severe burns.
The charity is asking for permission to bring the rescued people to a safe port. The ship is unable to accommodate so many people.
In addition, the European charity SOS Méditerrannée said its rescue ship Ocean Viking saved 87 people. They included 57 unaccompanied minors, from an overcrowded rubber boat off the Libyan coast. None had life-jackets, the charity said.
This year, 1.234 people have been recorded as dead or missing at sea by the United Nations refugee agency this year. Of those 823 were in the central Mediterranean.
Politically sensitive time
With elections on the horizon, and the far and central right looking to be in the ascendency, this is a sensitive time for so many migrants to land on Italian shores. Matteo Salvini, leader of the League party, is still on trial for kidnapping; the trial has been postponed until September. As Interior Minister in 2019, he barred the NGO ship Open Arms from docking on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa. It was part of his tough immigration policies, which divided the country.
