REVEALED: Almost 9,000 migrants saved from Mediterranean over Easter weekend
ALMOST 9,000 mainly African migrants were plucked from the Mediterranean trying to reach Europe over the Easter weekend, it was revealed today.
Coastguards say they recused almost 9,000 African migrants over the weekend
Coastguards said they saved 8,360 refugees after they were cast off from Libya in a desperate bid to reach southern Italy.
They clambered aboard 55 rubber dinghies, each carrying between 110 and 150 people, and three big wooden boats, carrying 200, 250 and 500 people.
Babar Baloch, spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said: “This was an overwhelming search and rescue operation by all sides involved.”
Smugglers are using the good weather to send asylum seekers to Europe
At least 900 migrants have died or gone missing attempting to reach Europe by sea so far this year, while 36,000 have been rescued, compared to 24,000 last year, as better weather encourages smugglers to take migrants out of detention centres and set them on a course to the major European gateways of Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Spain.
There are also signs increasing numbers from sub-Saharan Africa are crossing the Mediterranean in a bid to reach the continent.
The asylum seekers were travelling to Europe from Libya
Almost 11,000 saved in Mediterranean in two days
Hundreds of thousands of mainly Syrian refugees used the short but precarious corridor between Greece and Turkey in small inflatable boats, but the popular route was sealed off after an EU-Turkey deal was signed last year.
Better weather has led to an upsurge in numbers trying to reach Italy from north Africa, where people-smugglers continue to operate with impunity.