Italy migrant rescues hit new high as Libya exit rises

ROME: The number of migrants rescued at sea this year in operations run by Italy’s coastguard topped 15,000 Friday after another 900 people were saved, including eight-monthold Syrian twins and five other babies.

The latest operations confirm the pattern of a sharp upward spike in winter departures from troubled Libya.

Aid groups believe the exodus is being driven by worsening living conditions for migrants in the north African state and by fears the sea route to Europe could soon be closed to traffickers.

Migrant arrivals in Italy from its former colony are up by between 57 and 81 per cent this year in comparison to the opening two months of 2015 and 2016, according to Italian interior ministry figures.

The coastguard said 10 rescue operations had taken place on Friday to help migrants aboard four large rubber dinghies and six smaller wooden vessels.

Norway’s Siem Pilot, part of the European border agency Frontex’s mission, and the Aquarius, operated by French NGO SOS Mediterranee and Doctors without Borders (MSF), carried out the rescue operations.

Amid relatively calm seas, there were no reports of fresh casualties.

The United Nations refugee agency estimates 440 people have lost their lives trying to make the crossing from Libya to Italy since the start of 2017.

More than half a million migrants have reached Italy from Libya since the current migrant crisis began to spiral out of control at the end of 2013.

The vast majority of them have been Africans but the latest batches have included scores of Syrians and Bangladeshis. — AFP