Record 4,200 migrants rescued at sea by Italian coastguard, 17 dead

© Reuters/Alessandro Bianchi
A group of 300 sub-Saharan Africans, sit aboard the Italian Finance Police vessel Di Bartolo during a rescue operation off the coast of Sicily, May 14, 2015.

    

Up to 4,200 migrants sailing across the Mediterranean Sea were rescued by European ships on Friday, but 17 people died during the journey on unseaworthy boats. The number rescued in 24 hours appears to be one of the highest in recent years.

The 17 bodies were found on three inflatable dinghies, from which over 300 other migrants were rescued alive, the Italian Navy said on Twitter.

Friday's rescue operations were led by the Italian coastguard, and involved German and Irish naval ships working under the auspices of the EU's Frontex border agency.

A similar international maritime mission off the coast of Sicily on Thursday resulted in the rescue of over 700 migrants from Libya in six boats.

So far, the busiest days this year have been on April 12 when 3,791 migrants were rescued and the May 2 rescue of 3,690 people.

© AFP Photo/Andreas Solaro
Italian officer Gianluca D'Agostino of the Italian Coast Guard, looks at a map of the Mediterranean Sea, in the control center at the headquarter of Italian Coast Guard, on May 28 2015, in Rome.

    

Over 40,400 boat migrants, many of them fleeing poverty and conflict-stricken countries such as Syria and Eritrea, have arrived in Italy since the start of the year, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

New statistics gathered by IOM confirm 2015 appears to be "an even deadlier year than 2014," when nearly 3,300 migrants perished trying to enter Europe. While last year the number of migrants dying in all Mediterranean crossings from January to April was 96, this year's toll is an estimated 1,770 so far through to April 30, IOM said.

EU ministers have approved plans for a military operation to fight people smugglers in the Mediterranean. Proposals to destroy traffickers' boats in Libyan waters still need UN approval, however. The European Commission plans to make the rest of the 28-nation EU share the burden of frontline, brunt bearing states such as Italy, Greece and Malta, although some countries, the UK among them, are against the plan.

According to writer and anti-war activist John Wight, the drowning of hundreds of refugees in the Mediterranean is "a crime against humanity," and

Wight said on his RT blog he has little faith that effective measures would be put in place to prevent more deaths in the coming months.

in other words the criminalization of migrants, whose only crime is attempting to flee the catastrophic consequences of Western military and political intervention in their countries.

he added.

IOM's team in Italy has recently reported a persisting trend of growing numbers of women from Africa, particularly Nigerians, many of whom are being trafficked to the sex industry.

Federico Soda, Director of the IOM Coordination Office for the Mediterranean in Rome, stated earlier this month

the UN refugee agency said earlier this month.

By mid-May, some 62,500 people had crossed the Mediterranean, and at least 1,800 have died, the agency added.

It's believed that the large increase in the number of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea in recent weeks had to do not only with the worsening security situation in Libya, but also with the weather.
"It happens a lot in waves, you could have a few days where nothing happens, then there can be a high number of arrivals at the same time," Flavio di Giacomo, a spokesman for the IOM in Italy, told AFP.

With Libyan conflict in full swing, smugglers are expected to push migrant arrivals in Italy for 2015 to staggering figures - up to 200,000 - an increase of 30,000 on last year, according to an Interior Ministry projection.