Italian and other European vessels rescued more than 1,100 migrants in the Mediterranean Sea on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the International Organisation for Migration has revealed. Flavio Di Giacomo gave the details via Twitter on Wednesday, putting the exact figure at 1,105 migrants.
The Italian government has recently intensified its efforts to curb the migrant flow into Europe after 23,000 reached the shores of Italy in May alone. In June, the figure was 23,500.
Libyan coastguards are helping the Italians in the effort to curb illegal migration. They monitor Libya’s territorial waters and fight people smugglers on the mainland.
Due to security concerns, several aid agencies have suspended their rescue operations near the Libyan coast. According to Anadolu, a spokesman for Lifeline, a German NGO, said that Libyan coastguards had fired warning shots to force one of its ships to hand over the migrants that it had rescued.
Two coastguard officers boarded the ship for this purpose, he said, even though the ship was in international waters and Lifeline had refused to hand over the migrants to the Libyans.
SOURCE: Middle East Monitor
