Thread: Nearly 3,000 people are rescued trying to cross from Libya to Europe ...

Business as usual: Brussels says migrant numbers have plunged after a deal with Turkey. But thousands are still coming in through Italy

2,725 migrants in different vessels have been rescued off the Libyan coast

Libyan coastguards have intercepted more migrant vessels today

550 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa were picked up today in four boats

By John Stevens, Europe Correspondent For The Daily Mail
PUBLISHED: 17:17 BST, 24 May 2016 | UPDATED: 17:51 BST, 25 May 2016

Thousands of migrants have poured into Europe this week, heralding the start of another summer of chaos on the continent.

The fresh influx – into Italy – comes after the EU negotiated a controversial £4.7billion deal with Turkey to ease the pressure of migrants arriving in Greece.

Two weeks ago the EU said that the number crossing the Aegean Sea to the Greek islands had fallen by 90 per cent since Turkey agreed to take them back.

But at the same time the number attempting the more perilous crossing from North Africa into Italy is rising as the weather begins to warm up.


The International Organization for Migration revealed 2,725 migrants had been picked up from the
sea as Libyan coastguards intercepted more migrant vessels today


550 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa were picked up today after they set out to cross the Mediterranean
in four rubber boats, Tripoli coastguard spokesman Ayoub Qassem said

Italy revealed yesterday that it had rescued more than 2,600 migrants in only 24 hours.
The country’s coastguard said they had helped save 2,000 off the Libyan coast from 14 rubber dinghies and one larger boat on Monday.

Another 636 were rescued from two boats in Maltese waters, in operations involving Maltese and Italian vessels, it said. It gave no information about the nationalities of those saved.

Libyan coastguards yesterday detained a further 550 people trying to reach Europe illegally by boat. Authorities said those intercepted from four large inflatables were from ‘several African countries’ and included three children and 30 women, eight of whom were pregnant.

EU officials have warned that up to half a million more migrants will arrive from Libya alone this year, reigniting the crisis as the continent struggles to cope with the consequences of German chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to let in more than a million last year.

And despite the deal with Turkey, the country’s president is threatening to open the floodgates again in a row with Brussels over travel rules for Turks wanting to go to Europe.

The overwhelming majority attempting the crossing from North Africa are economic migrants rather than genuine refugees from Syria or Iraq.


Migrants and refugees are rescued during an operation at sea with the Aquarius, a former North Atlantic
fisheries protection ship now used by humanitarians


SOS Mediterranee and Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) rescued the migrants today


These two migrants can be seen thanking the heavens after they were picked up a former North Atlantic
fisheries protection ship today

In Libya the chaos since Muammar Gaddafi’s overthrow in 2011 has been exploited by people traffickers, with thousands of migrants trying to reach Europe.

Most of those trying to reach Italy, which is 190 miles from Libya, leave the Libyan coast on rickety fishing boats or rubber dinghies, heading for the Italian island of Lampedusa, which is close to Tunisia, or towards Sicily.

The onset of better weather has raised fears of huge numbers attempting the still perilous sea crossing.

Increased patrols in the Mediterranean appear to have convinced many migrants they will be rescued before they get into any difficulties at sea.

So far this year more than 34,000 people have been brought to the Italian coast after being rescued off Libya, according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. A further 156,000 have landed in Greece.

The adults can be seen clutching children after taking desperate measures to get to Europe and away
from the war-torn Middle Eastern and north African countries they come from


Volunteers from the charities help a migrant woman onto the rescue boat after the treacherous trip
across the Mediterranean earlier today, which kills hundreds every year


The Aquarius, now used by humanitarians SOS Mediterranee and Medecins Sans Frontieres
(Doctors without Borders), is the key to many rescues on the dangerous stretch of water

According to forecasts by the International Organisation for Migration, Italy appears on track to take in at least 100,000 migrants from North Africa across the Mediterranean for the third straight year in 2016.

An IOM spokesman said current trends are following last year, when a surge of people crossed from North Africa during the summer months.

He said: ‘The numbers each month so far this year have been almost identical to those in 2015.

‘The arrivals look likely to be robust again through the warmer months.

‘There have been concerns that the closure of the route from Turkey to Greece will lead to people crossing from North Africa instead.

‘We have seen no evidence of that so far but it is such a long journey that is too early to say whether there is a shift.’

Austria has begun building a fence on its border with Italy at the Brenner Pass through the Alps because of concerns.

Italy is calling for floating migrant processing centres to be stationed in the Mediterranean to register all arrivals before they reach land.

Greece yesterday sent in police and bulldozers to knock down tents and relocate thousands of migrants who have been stranded for months in a squalid camp on the border with Macedonia.


The migrants from various African countries, including 30 women and three children, were stopped off
the Libyan coast near Sabratha, a city 80 km (50 miles) west of the capital Tripoli


Migrants stopped by the coastguard close to the shore are sent back to overcrowded detention centres in Libya


Libya is a frequent departure point for migrants hoping to cross the Mediterranean to Europe and the
number attempting the journey is expected to rise with calmer weather during the summer


Migration flows from Libya increased sharply in 2014 and 2015 and has been slightly lower so far this
year, according to Italian data

In an operation that began shortly after sunrise, officers put more than 1,500 people on buses to newly opened camps near Greece’s second city Thessaloniki, about 50 miles to the south.

Officials said it would take at least ten days to clear all 8,400 people living in the makeshift, overcrowded and muddy camp at Idomeni.

At its height, more than 12,000 people were crammed into the camp which aid groups opened last year to accommodate 2,500 people during what was, at the time, a short procedure to cross the border.

But it exploded in size after Balkan states began closing their borders in mid-February to stem the human tide seeking passage to northern Europe.

The IOM yesterday said fewer migrants are dying as they try to cross the Mediterranean to Europe because rescue operations have been stepped up.

So far this year 1,370 migrants and refugees have died at sea, nearly 25 per cent fewer than in the same period last year.

Meanwhile Europe has accused United Nations aid workers in Greece of inciting people there to apply for asylum even if they have no chance of getting it.

At a meeting of European Commission officials in Brussels, the Daily Mail has learnt, first vice president Frans Timmermans blamed them for disrupting the deal with Turkey to ease the crisis.

He said the UN refugee agency workers on the Greek islands, such as Lesbos, were creating problems by encouraging migrants to ‘submit asylum requests when they quite blatantly did not meet the requirements to apply for refugee status’.

In response, a UNHCR spokesman said the organisation’s activities included ‘giving information to all new arrivals on asylum procedures’.







Nearly 3,000 people are rescued trying to cross from Libya to Europe ...

So it has been proved over and over again that the EXTORTION money you pay these countries to keep their people does NOT work.

Stop rescuing and start returning them to the nearest shore they illegally crossed and on down the line until every country in their path secures their borders and shoves them BACK.