Italy’s coastguard has launched two major operations to rescue approximately 1,200 migrants who were stranded on overcrowded boats off the coast of Sicily. The boats, carrying around 800 and 400 people respectively, were in distress and needed immediate assistance. Since Friday, the coastguard has already rescued about 2,000 people in other missions.
The latest operations were carried out despite challenges faced by the right-wing coalition government to clamp down on irregular migration. According to reports, migrant arrivals to Italy have risen steeply compared with the same period last year. This has led to an increase in the number of migrant boats arriving at Italian ports, especially at Lampedusa, one of the main arrival ports for people wanting to reach Europe.
Despite rescue efforts by the coastguard, the weekend’s boat crossings saw at least two people die, and twenty more were missing after their boat sank on Saturday night, according to German non-profit ResQship. The situation was dire for the 400 people on one of the boats, which is believed to have set out from Tobruk in Libya, as they remained without help late into Monday evening, according to Alarm Phone, an unofficial hotline for migrants in distress. The boat was adrift, taking on water, and without a captain, according to a woman on board. There were also several people in need of medical care.
Moreover, a German non-governmental organization, Sea-Watch International, revealed that two merchant vessels near one of the ships were ordered not to help with rescue efforts by Malta while the boat was in Maltese waters. The Maltese government has not commented on the matter.
Despite the challenges, Italy’s coastguard remains committed to saving lives at sea. An operation to rescue the 800 people on the other boat is also underway southeast of Syracuse, although the operation has been complicated by overcrowding on board, the coastguard reported. It is not immediately clear where the boat had set out from.
The situation in the central Mediterranean is dire, with monitoring group IOM Missing Migrants Project reporting that over 26,000 people have died or gone missing at sea since 2014. The risks faced by migrants have increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the need for safe and legal migration routes has become more urgent than ever.
