More than three
weeks after the two momentous refugee dramas off Lampedusa with more
than 400 dead, the flow of refugees to Europe still continues. The
Italian Coast Guard and Navy rescued hundreds of boat people in the
Mediterranean again. On Monday evening
and in the early morning of Tuesday, nearly 400 migrants were brought
to safety in several rescue operations off Italian shores, as
authorities confirmed. The Greek Coast Guard also discovered a
refugee boat.
41 boat people,
mainly from Nigeria and Ghana, were discovered Monday evening off
Lampedusa by the Coast Guard and brought to safety. They had come
with their boat about 70 miles south of the Mediterranean island in
distress. After the rescue, the people had been brought on board a
naval vessel.
About 80 miles south
of Lampedusa were 205 migrants were brought to safety on Monday
evening, as authorities told on Tuesday. Off the coast of
Calabria, rescue workers also discovered a boat with 133 people on
board in the early morning of Tuesday. The refugees, mainly from
Syria and Eritrea, were taken on board a vessel of the Coast Guard.
Aid refused
Late Monday evening,
the Coast Guard had rescued 15 illegal immigrants from the floods in
the straits between Turkey and the Greek island of Kos. Their boat
had capsized a few miles off the island. It has been stated that one
migrant was still missing on Tuesday.
Already nearly three
times as many refugees as 2012
According to the
Italian Interior Ministry, more than 36,000 boat people arrived on
the Italian coast earlier this year. In 2012 there were just over
13,000. In good weather, numerous migrants, mostly from Africa and
the Middle East, still take the risk to cross the Mediterranean.
In early October, a
refugee boat capsized off Lampedusa where more than 360 people died.
During a second shipwreck a few days later, more than 35 people were
killed.
(Translated by Aylin
Satmaz)
