Humanitarian Group Says Europe Not Doing Enough to Help Migrants
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fauk74/iStock/Thinkstock(ROME) — A humanitarian group said on Friday that Europe is not doing enough to save migrants in the Mediterranean Sea, and is launching a rescue effort of its own.
The medical humanitarian group Medicins san Frantiere is now launching a rescue boat of its own in the Mediterranean.
The 130-foot-long medical aid ship is what the group says is desperately needed to help save lives. Last year alone, close to 3,400 people died trying to cross the Mediterranean to Italy.
The MSF ship will work in cooperation with the Italian coastguard, patrolling the Mediterranean from May to October, when with calm seas and more boats risk the crossing.
The announcement comes as the Italian coast guard and naval ships rescued a thousand people crammed into small boats at risk of capsize off the coast of Libya on Saturday.
Italian rescuers are doing their best to cope with drastically reduced resources after last year, when Italy cancelled its rescue operation due to cost.
The European Union launched a replacement mission following the cancellation, but as humanitarian groups point out, it is a “pale effort” by comparison with less than a third the size, and with ships that stay close to Europe’s coast, far from the area where many of the migrants end up drowning.
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