Italian Coast Guard officials
rescued over 2,000 illegal immigrants in a major sea operation
at the weekend, while four Kalashnikov-wielding men from Libya
threatened some of the rescue agents as they brought migrants on
board the Coast Guard vessels.
The armed men told the unarmed rescue agents to leave them
their boat after they took the immigrants off, and they left
with the empty boat after the rescue took place.
Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi called for international
organizations in Libya to get involved, and said the events of
the weekend were "an alarming fact, showing a jump in the
smugglers' expertise".
On Monday, 800 immigrants disembarked in Lampedusa, most of
whom were Eritrean and arrived by way of Libya.
Between Sunday and Monday, a total of 480 immigrants
arrived at Pozzallo, near Ragusa, and 285 arrived at the port of
Agusta, near Siracusa.
One Gambian man stopped by Ragusa police said he agreed to
pilot one of the dinghies carrying hundreds of immigrants
because he was offered free passage by the Libyans who organized
the crossing.
An immigrant center in Imbriacola on the island of
Lampedusa is already hosting more than 800 immigrants, double
its capacity, but more immigrants are expected to arrive Monday.
Immigration continues to soar in southern Italian ports,
and in the first 30 days of January, 3,538 immigrants
disembarked on Italian soil, compared to 2,171 in the same
period of 2014.
After Italy's search and rescue operation Mare Nostrum
ended in October of last year, EU border patrol agency Frontex
initiated the Triton operation in November, which patrols only
the waters close to Europe's coast.
Frontex boats and planes have saved a third of the
immigrants arriving in Italy since November, a total of 18,180
people, said Natasha Bertaud, a European Commission spokeswoman.
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