An Italian Navy vessel has
reached the port city of Salerno with 1,416 rescued migrants on
board, most of them war refugees, officials said Tuesday.
The migrants, many of them arriving in entire families, are
being processed and will be relocated to reception centers
throughout Italy.
Italian rescuers last month brought another 2,128 migrants
from Iraq, Palestine, Somalia and Syria to this city lying close
to the Amalfi Coast.
Meanwhile the Italian coast guard and merchant marine on
Monday rescued some 1,000 people off various vessels in distress
in the Strait of Sicily. They are expected in the southern city
of Reggio Calabria early on Wednesday.
Italy's Mare Nostrum (Our Sea) search-and-rescue operation
has been saving the lives of migrants fleeing war-torn northern
and sub-Saharan Africa since October 2013, after 366 men, women
and children perished when their unseaworthy boats capsized
almost within sight of the coast of Sicily.
Also on Tuesday, French newspaper Le Figaro dedicated a
long article to Mare Nostrum, which it says has saved "more than
93,700 lives" to date and costs Italy nine million euros a
month.
"Italy alone shoulders this burden, with no help from (the
European Union in) Brussels" the French paper wrote.
French police voiced concern over the large numbers of
migrants flowing across the border from Italy, Le Figaro
reported.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
