More than a thousand people were rescued on Saturday March 11 by the Italian coastguards and navy while they were on board overloaded boats in the central Mediterranean, less than two weeks after a deadly shipwreck on the coasts of southern Italy, several news agencies report.
These rescue operations were carried out the same day the body of the 74th victim – a girl aged five to six – was discovered in the deadly shipwreck that occurred almost two weeks ago off Crotone, Calabria, according to the AGI agency.
An investigation was opened, in particular to explain the late arrival of relief. This shipwreck, which shocked Italy, earned strong criticism from the far-right government led by Giorgia Meloni.
The coast guard and the Italian navy had dispatched several ships on Friday to come to the aid of three boats carrying several hundred people spotted in the central Mediterranean, the most dangerous migratory route in the world. ” Rescue (…) are particularly complicated due to the large number of people present on board the drifting boats”explained the coast guard on Friday.
Arrivals up 116% in January and February
Early Saturday morning, 487 migrants were landed safe and sound at the port of Crotone, according to several media. Coastguard videos, released on Friday, showed some of them on the deck of a large fishing boat in rough seas. An Italian coast guard ship carrying 584 migrants also docked on Saturday morning in Reggio Calabria, reports the Ansa agency. No information about the third craft was available as of Saturday noon.
At the end of a council of ministers relocated Thursday in the south of Italy, Giorgia Meloni had reaffirmed the determination of his government to fight against illegal immigration and smugglers. A decree increasing the penalties for smugglers has been adopted.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, 17,592 people have landed since January 1 in Italy, compared to 5,976 over the same period in 2022 and 5,995 in 2021, i.e. almost triple. The number of arrivals through the central Mediterranean jumped 116% in January and February compared to 2022, according to Frontex.