http://reliefweb.int/report/italy/three-drown-italian-navy-rescues-over-1000-migrants
Three drown as Italian navy rescues over 1,000 migrants
Report
from Agence France-Presse
Published on 17 Jul 2014
07/17/2014 15:33 GMT
ROME, July 17, 2014 (AFP) - Italy's navy on Thursday said it had rescued
more than 1,000 migrants from multiple boats intercepted crossing the
Mediterranean over the past 24 hours, as smugglers take advantage of calm
summer seas.
The rescues came as Libya's navy said it had retrieved the bodies of three
would-be migrants and rescued almost 100 others after their boat sank off
its coast.
"Over 1,000 migrants have been rescued," the Italian navy said in a
statement. It said 764 migrants were rescued from a number of boats
overnight -- and then 427 on two more boats intercepted on Thursday.
The rescues were part of Rome's massive ongoing search and rescue mission,
"Mare Nostrum" (Our Sea), after two shipwrecks in October in which over 400
migrants drowned.
Italy estimates around 100,000 migrants will have landed on its shores by
the end of the year -- around the same number that arrived in 2011 in the
wake of turmoil triggered by the Arab Spring revolutions in North Africa.
The navy said dozens of women and children were among the latest arrivals
and released videos of the migrants wrapped in thermal blankets being
transferred onto warships where they were checked by medical staff.
Many of the migrants come from Eritrea, currently under investigation by
the UN Human Rights Council for alleged abuses including extrajudicial
executions, torture and forced military conscription that can last decades.
The migrants rescued by the navy are usually taken to temporary centres in
Sicily -- all already full. Many try to avoid registering asylum requests
in Italy and make their way to other parts of Europe.
Received on Thu Jul 17 2014 - 14:09:06 EDT