Mare Nostrum will end says Alfano - update 2

(ANSA) - Rome, October 16 - Italy's Mare Nostrum Mediterranean migrant rescue programme "will be closed" and will not, as the EU has suggested, run in tandem with Frontex's new Triton operation, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said Thursday. "An upcoming cabinet meeting will decree the conclusion of the operation" which has saved some 140,000 lives in a year, Alfano said. Mare Nostrum (The Roman name for 'Our Sea'), was launched after 368 migrants drowned off the stepping-stone island of Lampedusa a year ago. Earlier Thursday the EU said Triton would "not replace" Mare Nostrum.