Italy Says over 1,300 Refugees Rescued at Sea
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Italy's coast guard said it had picked up at sea 1,348 asylum seekers in 11 rescue operations between Sicily and North Africa, bringing the total number of people saved over the past three days to more than 3,000.
Two thousand people were rescued on Thursday when the coast guard coordinated operations involving refugees travelling on 15 different boats, Reuters reported on Sunday.
Italy is on the front line of Europe's immigration crisis, which is now in its third year. Almost 50,000 refugees have come ashore in Italy this year, about 10 percent less than the same period last year, according to the Interior Ministry.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has said in a new report that 48,761 people have so far stepped on Italian shores in 2016, and that the average daily arrivals has also increased from 176 in January to 643 in May.
Europe has been grappling with its biggest influx of refugees since World War II, as people flee conflict-ridden zones in Africa and the Middle East.
In a bid to reduce the flow, the European Union signed a deal in March with Turkey to deport refugees from Greece. However, the IOM said a total of 206,400 refugees had arrived in Europe since the start of the year, mainly landing in Greece and Italy.