A weary migrant rests. Photos: Darrin Zammit Lupi

Migrants are using “anything that floats” to leave Libya, according to the commander of the Armed Forces of Malta who says he expects sea crossings to intensify in the coming months.

Speaking after a massive operation by the AFM, the Italian and US navies to rescue migrants from 25 boats, Brigadier Jeffrey Curmi said yesterday things could get worse as the weather improved.

“The boats did not stop coming in the winter months despite the bad weather let alone now that sea conditions have improved... migrants are taking to sea in anything that floats,” he told Times of Malta. Migrants fleeing Libya were using dinghies and wooden boats, big and small, he added.

A group of 130 migrants were brought to Malta on a patrol boat on Saturday night. Another seven had been transported for urgent medical treatment at Mater Dei Hospital by a US navy aircraft and a helicopter operated by the Italian military mission in Malta. Hundreds of others rescued in the same operation were taken to Italy.

‘Europe has forgotten us all’

We found the Americans ready to help, not Europe

The latest developments prompted Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to praise the excellent collaboration between the Maltese, Italian and US naval units while hitting out at the EU’s inaction.

“Europe has forgotten us all. We are two countries [Malta and Italy] on the frontier and when it came to the crunch we found the Americans ready to help us not Europe,” Dr Muscat said on One Radio.

He said that, although the number of arrivals in Malta since the beginning of the year was low, it did not mean the problem had vanished.

Italy has faced the brunt of the influx with thousands of migrants being picked up at sea as a result of its Mare Nostrum operation.

Italian navy vessels have been patrolling the sea off Libya ever since the Lampedusa tragedy last year when about 400 migrants died after their boat capsized. Dr Muscat said that at any one time there were between 10 and 30 boats crossing the central Mediterranean as thousands of migrants sought to leave Libya for Europe.

“We have a humanitarian duty to help migrants but we also have a political duty towards the Maltese.

“I do not agree with racism and xenophobia but we have to stand up for our interests,” he said, adding that the resources of both Malta and Italy were stretched.

Migration in the central Mediterranean accounts for 38 per cent of all migratory flows into Europe, according to Frontex, the EU border agency. In its annual risk analysis released last month, Frontex said the central Mediterranean was “the main entry point to Europe for irregular migrants, particularly during the second half of the year”.

Migrant crossings have intensified as the conflict in Syria still rages after three years of civil war and Libya slides into political and security chaos.

Asked whether the government had any contingency plans if the number of arrivals shot up suddenly, a spokeswoman for the Home Affairs Ministry said work to maximise the capacity of detention centres never stopped.

“The capacity is what it is but we took advantage of the lull to refurbish the closed centres to make better use of the available space,” she said, refusing to be drawn into what would happen if the number of arrivals exceeded capacity.

Malta’s policy is to detain migrants for a maximum of 18 months until their asylum applications are decided. Most do not spend the maximum period in detention but those whose application was turned down will have to remain locked up for the whole period.