European ships rescued nearly 3,500 migrants stranded off the coast of Libya, the latest evidence of the alarming immigration crisis in the Mediterranean.
A dozen ships from several countries, along with at least one private ship, were involved in rescue operations, the Italian coast guard said.
They moved into action after the first distress calls came in early Saturday, U.N. Refugee Agency spokesman William Spindler said.
An estimated 3,480 people had been rescued so far, according to the Italian coast guard. It was unclear whether many more others were still stuck and in danger.
“Weather and sea conditions are relatively good, and so far there have been no reports of accidents or of people dead or missing at sea,” Spindler said.
Joint effort
Vessels from Italy, Britain, Germany and Ireland were involved in the rescues, officials said.
Ian Ruggier, a member of the humanitarian group Migrant Offshore Aid Station, was on one of the rescue boats.
Some rescue ships turned up with rescued migrants already on board, according to Ruggier. That’s what happened with one German naval vessel that picked up 301 migrants from an unreported vessel as the German ship was on the way to the larger rescue scene, a spokesman for Bundeswehr Joint Forces Operations Command said.
The German ships went to the main site and found seven packed boats — far more than they expected — according to the spokesman for the command, which is part of Germany’s military.
The Italian Interior Ministry reported that several of its own ships were involved, including from its coast guard and navy. The Italian rescue vessels are expected to arrive during the night at the island of Lampedusa.
The British navy dispatched one of its own ships, the HMS Bulwark, to the area, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.
One Irish naval vessel was involved in the efforts, Spinder and Ruggier said.
Europe dealing with immigration crisis
The prospect of migrants being in jeopardy in the Mediterranean is serious but hardly surprising. People from impoverished countries such as Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea have been taking to the sea to reach Europe in especially large numbers of late, often putting their fates in the hands of smugglers.
Many times they haven’t made it. Hundreds of migrants died in April when their crammed 66-foot (20-meter) boat capsized roughly 70 miles (113 kilometers) north of Libya. That got a lot of news coverage, but it didn’t stop the carnage — including dozens feared drowned after falling into the Mediterranean Sea last month as a rescue vessel approached, according to the aid organization Save the Children.
The United Nations estimates that, as of the end of May, 90,000 refugees and migrants had crossed the Mediterranean into Europe so far this year. Just over half of them landed in Italy with roughly 42,000 in Greece and the rest recorded in places like Spain and Malta. Spindler, the U.N. spokesman, added that about 1,850 had died or went missing at sea.