Italy has threatened to close its ports to aid groups rescuing migrants off Libya’s coast as it struggles to cope with the highest rate of rescues this year, officials said. The country’s representative to the EU, Maurizio Massari, said the situation ‘has become unsustainable’ as it emerged 10,000 refugees have tried to cross the Mediterranean in … Read more
Around 2,300 migrants were rescued off the coast of Libya on Thursday and two others were found dead in operations carried out by NGO vessels, the Italian coastguard and commercial ships in the area. The rescue efforts came as the bodies of 35 migrants, including at least 10 children, were being brought to Italy after … Read more
At least 34 people including young children drowned Wednesday when they fell off an overloaded migrant vessel in the Mediterranean, where tensions are rising between aid ships and the Libyan coastguard. “There’s a critical situation today. About 200 people fell into the water,” an Italian coastguard spokesman told AFP, saying 34 bodies had been recovered … Read more
At least 30 migrants including young children drowned Wednesday when they fell off an overloaded vessel in the Mediterranean, where tensions are rising between aid ships and the Libyan coast guard. “There’s a critical situation today. About 200 people fell into the water,” a coastguard spokesman told AFP, while a humanitarian worker at the scene … Read more
Thousands of migrants have been saved from the sea near Libya during one of the busiest weekends of the year for rescue workers. More than 2,000 people were rescued on Friday and 3,000 on Saturday in dozens of separate rescues, the Italian Coast Guard said. But at least seven people drowned as aid workers struggled … Read more
About 6,500 migrants have been rescued off Libya, the Italian coastguard says, in one of the biggest operations of its kind to date. Some 40 co-ordinated rescue missions took place about 20km (12 miles) off the Libyan town of Sabratha, it added. Video footage shows migrants, said to be from Eritrea and Somalia, cheering and … Read more