Italy launches rescue operations for 1,200 migrants on two overloaded fishing boats

The Italian coastguard is carrying out operations to rescue about 1,200 people from two boats in the Mediterranean Sea after a surge in the number of migrants trying to cross from North Africa.

One of the boats, which has 400 people on board and is in the Ionian Sea off the coast of Calabria, southern Italy, has previously been reported in Maltese waters.

The German group Sea-Watch International, which located the fishing boat with one of its planes, said a merchant ship had supplied fuel and water to the boat in distress, but Maltese authorities had ordered it not to conduct a rescue.

About 2,000 people were rescued at the weekend, Italian coastguard officials said, as they also tried on Monday to save 1,200 migrants packed on to two more boats.

On one overcrowded fishing boat, in Italian waters more than 190km south-east of Syracuse, in Sicily, there were 800 migrants.

The rescue, involving three patrol boats and a merchant ship, has been co-ordinated by the Italian coastguard boat Nave Peluso.

A second fishing vessel carrying 400 migrants has been intercepted by coastguard ship Diciotti about 270km south-east of Capo Passero, at the southernmost tip of Sicily. Two merchant ships were assisting in that rescue, the coastguard said.

Alarm Phone, a hotline used by migrants in distress, said on Twitter on Monday that the people on board were “in panic”.

Alarm Phone tweeted on Sunday that, according to one female passenger, the boat which set sail from Libya was missing its captain, and several people needed medical care, including a child and a pregnant woman.

Three people in distress had jumped overboard and one fell unconscious, it wrote.

The International Organisation for Migration has urged countries to work together to address the root causes of migration and to provide better protection for those forced to flee their homes.

Last week, 440 migrants were rescued off Malta after a complex 11-hour operation in stormy seas by the Geo Barents vessel of the Doctors Without Borders charity.

At least 23 African migrants were missing and four died on Saturday after their two boats sank off Tunisia as they tried to reach Italy.

The situation for those on board the adrift vessel is dire, and the urgency of the situation highlights the continuing dangers faced by those attempting the perilous sea journey in search of a better life.