Frontex will be meeting today to discuss the new threat posed by Kalashnikov-wielding smugglers who approached rescue teams carrying out a migrant rescue operation off the Libyan coast demanding their boat back.

During a major operation last week, in which the Italian coastguard saved more than 2,000 migrants, four men with Kalashnikov rifles sped out from the Libyan shore and ordered the coastguard to return a boat that had been emptied of migrants.

Some of the gunmen then jumped on the boat and took it, according to Italy’s transport ministry.

“This is a new threat that requires reflection. We need to speak to member states and Italian authorities about how to handle this situation. There is a management board meeting [today] in which this will be discussed,” a Frontex spokeswoman told Times of Malta.

Last week, at least 300 migrants perished in the Mediterranean Sea. The incident drew strong criticism from Amnesty International, which said the deaths were preventable if adequate resources had been available.

The assets we have are what member states make available. They are limited. We cannot be compared to a national navy

The international human rights organisation said when the distress call was made on February 8, the main vessel used in Frontex’s operation, Triton, was being serviced in Malta.

Asked for a reaction, the Frontex spokeswoman said: “Everybody was working hard to save as many people as possible... but migrants should have never left Libya on rubber dinghies in such weather.”

Yet human rights organisations have said migrants were forced on to the boats.

The UN human rights agency confirmed yesterday that “some have been forced at gunpoint to board unseaworthy vessels in dangerous weather conditions”.

This is a fact Frontex acknowledged, saying the smugglers were sending people to almost certain death. Yet the organisation stressed its mission was primarily focused on border control, not search and rescue.

The UN said 3,500 people perished in the Mediterranean last year, a situation made worse after the Italians disbanded their search and rescue operation Mare Nostrum.

Last year, about 150,000 migrants were rescued from the sea as a result of the Italian operation, which was launched in response to a tragedy near Lampedusa in 2013 when 366 migrants died.

Since it was disbanded last November, Frontex has repeatedly insisted its mission was not search and rescue, although its assets obviously get involved.

“The assets we have are what member states make available. They are limited.

“We cannot be compared to a national navy. Yet this is also one of the longest operations we’ve had, and its duration is going to be extended,” the Frontex spokeswoman said.

Triton was rolled out in November and was supposed to last until the end of January. It is now likely to be extended until the end of the year, she said.

“Assets are also deployed close to Libya. A number of our missions have been closer to Libyan shores than Lampedusa,” she added, which was why the new threat is being taken seriously by Frontex.

Yet Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said last week’s incidents left “no doubt” that Triton was woefully inadequate. “The focus has to be about saving lives,” he said.

The Mediterranean graveyard

• The Mediterranean is the most dangerous sea crossing for migrants – 3,500 people died trying to cross the Mediterranean last year, according to the UN.

• The number of people who attempted to cross the Mediterranean last year amounted to 170,000; almost three times the total in 2013.

• In 2013, 60,000 migrants attempted to cross the Mediterranean and 600 drowned on the way.