more and more numerous and dangerous rescues in the Mediterranean

For two days, 47 migrants, adrift, have been desperately waiting for help, Sunday March 12. A merchant ship is watching them, with no way to bring them back on board. The boat is in the middle of international waters, between Libya and Italy. Each country expects the other to intervene. According to NGOs, several dozen migrants would have died. On Saturday March 11, an extraordinary rescue operation was deployed off Italy to rescue 1,350 migrants at the same time, in very difficult weather conditions.

Saturated shipwrecked centers

Exceptional means, deployed 15 days after the sinking of Cutro (Italy), which claimed at least 79 victims. Since January, Italy has seen a number of arrivals three times greater than last year, with increasingly dangerous rescues. Most of the castaways will then be temporarily accommodated in dedicated centres. For three days, that of the island of Lampedusa (Italy) has been totally saturated, with 5,000 people welcomed for only 400 places.