Sicily has declared a state of emergency due to rising numbers of migrants coming by boats from the Mediterranean sea.
Drones, warships and helicopters were deployed on Tuesday inside and
outside Italian waters to scare-off people-smugglers, following two
tragic shipwrecks this month in which more than 400 Eritrean, Somali and
Syrian refugees drowned.
Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta said on Tuesday that the navy had
rescued 290 migrants near the island of Lampedusa, Italy's southernmost
territory.
The latest arrivals came on top of the 32,000 asylum seekers that the
United Nations refugee agency said have landed in Italy and Malta so
far this year.
Border guards said on Tuesday they had also seized a "mother ship"
and arrested 17 crew members, who are believed to be Egyptians,
following a landing in the southern Calabria region on Sunday.
These larger fishing vessels are often used by smugglers to carry out
most of the journey. Migrants are then put on smaller boats when they
are nearer the coast to evade controls.
Thousands have perished over the years as the crossings are often made on ageing vessels.
The refugee shipwreck on October 3 off Lampedusa was the country's
worst ever, with 364 people killed when their 20-metre boat caught fire,
capsized and sank within sight of the shore.
Just a few days later another heavily laden boat flipped over in
rough seas off Malta, killing at least 36 of the Syrian refugees on
board.
Source: Al Jazeera
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