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Almost two weeks after the sinking in southern Italy, the Italian coast guard came to the rescue of three migrant boats. According to the Italian media, there would be around 1300 boat people.
On Friday morning, the Italian coastguard received a report of a fishing boat in trouble about 70 nautical miles south of Crotone, the town where a vessel carrying around 200 migrants sank two weeks ago. According to Frontex’s first report, there are more than 500 boat people on board.
Two other vessels have now been spotted making water, around 100 miles off the southern coast of Italy. Eight hundred other migrants are said to be on board these two ships. That is a total of 1,300 boat people at risk of drowning, including a large number of women and children.
Marine comes to the rescue
The number of migrants is so large that the Italian coastguard has called in the navy. The reconnaissance vessel Sirio is on its way “at full speed” to where the Coast Guard is active with a total of seven vessels, according to the Ministry of Defence.
The Italian coastguard has been heavily criticized for intervening too late two weeks ago in the maritime disaster in the town of Cutro. The sinking killed 73 people. The 73rd victim was pulled out of the water on Friday morning.
Overcrowded reception center
These three ships are part of a flood of ships trying to reach Italy in recent days. Three thousand refugees arrived in Sicily and in Lampedusa last week, the reception center on the small island is overcrowded. In the first two months of this year, a total of 12,000 people made the crossing to Italy, more than double the number in the same period last year.
The rescue operation comes the day after the Italian government announced tougher measures in the fight against illegal immigration. Under the new rules, smugglers can face up to 30 years in prison if more than one person dies during a boat trip.
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