ITALY RESCUES 1,500 MIGRANTS IN MEDITERRANEAN

Roma, 17 Jumadil Akhir 1436/6 April 2015 (MINA) – The Italian coastguard has rescued some 1,500 migrants in the southern Mediterranean in just one day amid a surge in the number of people crossing the sea.

In a statement released on Sunday, the coastguard said the migrants aboard five boats were saved from the sea on Saturday in separate operations involving one navy ship and two coastguard vessels.

The ships were dispatched to help after receiving satellite telephone distress calls from three migrant boats off the Libyan coast. Two more boats were also found to be in trouble nearby, Press Tv quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

The Italian vessels transferred the migrants to the island of Lampedusa and the ports of Augusta and Porto Empedocle in Sicily.

In a separate incident on Saturday, an Icelandic navy ship brought 318 migrants to the Sicilian port of Pozzallo after rescuing them off Libya.

About 170,000 migrants entered the European Union through Italy last year, with most of them departing from Libya, according to latest reports.

Officials say the number of arrivals in January and February 2015 increased by 43 percent compared to the figures recorded during the first two months of 2014.

In November 2014, Italy ended its full-scale coast guard operation known as Mare Nostrum and the EU replaced it with Operation Triton.

Mare Nostrum reportedly saved the lives of over 100,000 migrants in more than a year, with a monthly cost of about 9 million euros (10.27 million dollars).

The new scheme has a monthly budget about a third of the previous one, with its maritime patrols generally restricted to territorial waters of the bloc’s 28 member states. (T/P002/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)