About 15 crowded migrant vessels were rescued off the Libyan coast yesterday, with an estimated 6,700 making the crossing over the weekend.
Sources at the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, responsible for overseeing migrant rescue missions, told Times of Malta the boats had made distress calls or had been spotted in difficulty yesterday. The operations followed a number of rescues on Saturday that saw almost 3,700 migrants being taken to Italy.
A spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said an estimated 6,700 migrants had been saved by rescue vessels and merchant ships over the weekend.
The Italian sources described the rescue centre in Rome as an overwhelmed call switchboard with officers scrambling to coordinate simultaneous missions.
“Now it is a reality. We have had [days] like this. We just work as hard as we can to be sure we save as many lives as possible,” the sources said.
The weekend missions were conducted jointly between the Italian navy and coastguard as a Maltese rescue vessel stood by at the edge of Malta’s search and rescue region to offer a helping hand if necessary.
The sources said that at one point as many as 13 vessels were engaged in rescue operations, including two merchant vessels and a pair of French navy vessels.
Moas saves 370 migrants found adrift on wooden boat
Meanwhile, the Migrant Offshore Aid Station conducted its first rescue operation less than 24 hours after setting sail from Valletta. The Moas mission, which this year is being conducted in collaboration with international medical NGO Doctors Without Borders, yesterday saved about 370 migrants in Libyan waters.
The weary migrants, who were mostly Eritrean, were found adrift on a wooden boat and transported on to the NGO’s vessel, the MV Phoenix, via rescue dinghies.
A spokesman for the Italian coastguard said that all those rescued throughout the weekend were being taken to Italian ports and some had reached Lampedusa during the night.
The Italian naval frigate Bersagliere saved 778 people from five boats south of Lampedusa, Italy’s southernmost island, on Saturday. The Vega, another Italian navy vessel, rescued a further 672 people in two separate incidents on the same day.
A third Italian navy vessel saved another 389 migrants in two operations yesterday, and at least two more operations were being conducted at the time of writing.
Last month, European leaders pledged to boost rescue resources after more than 800 migrants died when their boat capsized.
The French vessel Commandant Birot, patrolling the Mediterranean as part of the EU’s Triton operation, saved 217 migrants from three boats and arrested two suspected people smugglers on Saturday.
The two Libyan men were detained in the seas north of Libya and were transported to Italy, the French Maritime Prefecture in Toulon said.