Around 1,500 migrants have been rescued in the Mediterranean Sea this weekend, an unusually high number for winter, when crossings tend to slow because of difficult sea conditions, the Italian coastguard said on Sunday.
The number of people pulled to safety in the past two days brought the number of the total saved to 4,500 since Wednesday. The latest rescues came after EU leaders agreed at a summit in Malta on Friday on moves to curb mass migration to Italy from Libya.
Migrants gather after they arrested by Libyan coastguards, in Tripoli, Libya on February 5, 2017. /CFP Photo
Among the measures was a strategy to "break the business model" of traffickers who helped 181,000, mainly African migrants, enter the EU via Libya and Italy last year. The plan includes funding and training Libya's coastguard to make it better able to intercept migrant boats.
A Libyan aid worker inspects an Illegal immigrant child who was rescued with others at sea off the coast of Libya, at a reception centre in the capital Tripoli, in the early hours on February 5, 2017. /CFP Photo
On Saturday, Libya's coastguard said it had stopped more than 400 African migrants attempting to reach Europe. The same day, however, another 600 people were rescued by several ships, most of them operated by the Italian coastguard. And then, on Sunday, 900 migrants traveling on three rickety boats were rescued by a Spanish navy ship taking part in the EU's Eunavfor Med mission, as well as by merchant navy vessels.
Britain's ambassador to the European Union Tim Barrow (C), Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson (R) and staff members attend a European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels, Belgium on February 6, 2017. /CFP Photo
Rights groups have criticized the EU's bid to work with Libya to stem the migrant flow to Europe, warning that turning boats away could result in children being sent back to squalid detention centers. Around 8,500 people making desperate bids to reach Europe have been rescued at sea since the start of the year, while at least 227 people are either missing or feared dead.
(Source: AFP)
