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A boat packed with migrants sank
Monday about 100 miles off the coast of southern Italy, killing
at least 14 while about 200 others were rescued, the Coast Guard
said.
The wreck follows a similar sinking off the coast of Libya
on Sunday, in which roughly 40 European-bound migrants died.
The European Union said Monday it was shocked by the latest
migrant deaths over two days south of Italian coast and urged
member states to "show solidarity" in dealing with the crisis.
Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said the EU's council of
interior ministers would discuss the issue at its next meeting.
Monday's sinking occurred about 100 miles off the coast of
southern Italy near an offshore Libyan oil derrick after a
nearby merchant ship was alerted to its unsafe conditions,
officials said.
In a program called Mare Nostrum (Our Sea), Italy has
ramped up search-and-rescue missions around its sea boarders
since last October when two wrecks off the coast of Sicily
killed roughly 400 migrants.
Italian Red Cross President Francesco Rocca called for the
creation of a "humanitarian corridor" which he said was
"urgently" needed in response to the sinkings.
"This time we don't want tears and declarations of intent,"
said Rocca, who explained such a corridor would allow safe
access for refugees from war and hunger to cross the
Mediterranean to Europe.
"There must be immediate intervention and without wasting
time," he said, adding that the Mare Nostrum operation should be
a European mission rather than being primarily an Italian
responsibility.
He called on greater support for rescue and resettlement
efforts from the European Union.
Last week, as many as 1,000 migrants landed in Sicily, the
latest arrivals adding to the total of about 30,000 rescued
since the start of the Mare Nostrum operation, according to
figures released last Wednesday by Defence Minister Roberta
Pinotti.
Most of these are from sub-Saharan Africa including
war-torn countries like South Sudan, while an increasing number
are from Syria and the Palestinian Territories.
The interior ministry said earlier this month that 800,000
asylum seekers were "poised" to set off for Europe from North
Africa.
Issues around migration, including the rescue and care of
illegal migrants, is a hot-button issue in Italy where last week
a row erupted between the anti-immigrant Northern League and the
interior ministry.
Northern League leader Matteo Salvini called Interior
Minister Angelino Alfano "inept" for not halting the "invasion"
of Italy.
"Italy is suffering an unprecedented invasion and you're
not doing your job; resign for the sake of Italians," Salvini
said after visiting an overflowing migrant centre in Rome.
The League leader said Italy needed a referendum to make
entering Italy illegally a criminal offense again, as it was
until a League-led law was repealed last year.
Salvini also said the migrants were "getting food and
accommodation that Italians don't get".
Alfano said that the Europe will have to do more to support
Italy, which is on the front lines of the sea arrivals of
migrants.
Mare Nostrum has a monthly budget of 9.3 million euros, of
which seven million are earmarked to keep coast guard and Navy
vessels, helicopters and other vehicles and equipment running,
while the rest is allocated to personnel, Alfano said
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