Thirty Immigrants went missing and 17 people were rescued yesterday, Sunday, in the central Mediterranean Sea after the ship on which they left Libya capsized due to bad weather, the Coast Guard said. Italy.

The tragedy comes just weeks after a February 26 shipwreck off the coast of Calabria that killed at least 79 migrants.

The Alarm Phone relief group, which monitors calls for help on migrant boats, believes 30 missing are dead and blames Italian authorities for not dispatching coast guards despite being told repeatedly on Saturday that the boat is in disrepair.

“It is clear that the Italian authorities were trying to avoid taking people to Italy by postponing their intervention so that the so-called Libyan Coast Guard could arrive and force the people back to Libya,” the group said in a statement released late last night. Sunday.

But the Italian Coast Guard said the ship had capsized outside the country’s search and rescue zone, and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tagiani said Rome was doing its best to avoid shipwrecks.

“We have always said that it is necessary to stop the sailing of unseaworthy ships,” Tajani told Il Messaggero newspaper today.

“I think what our coast guard, our navy and our economic police are doing is commendable,” he added, noting that Rome and the European Commission are offering more patrol boats to Libya.

The migrant rescue operation continued late last night with the help of commercial ships and Frontex air support, while two more commercial ships were heading towards the scene of the tragedy, the Italian Coast Guard said.

Increasing the arrival of immigrants

Earlier yesterday, the non-governmental organization Mediterranea Saving Humans tweeted that, according to various sources, a ship bound for Italy capsized about 110 miles northwest of Benghazi.

After a merchant ship was unable to assist the migrants due to bad weather, the Libyan authorities turned to Rome for help because they did not have the necessary funds for the rescue operation, the Italian Coast Guard said.

Rome then asked merchant ships in the area to help rescue the migrants. However, on Sunday morning, the ship capsized as passengers tried to board the merchant ship Froland, the same source added.

Italy’s ability to rescue migrants in the Mediterranean has come under scrutiny since the February 26 shipwreck. The problem is increasing pressure on the country’s right-wing government, which took office in October with a commitment to curb the arrival of migrants.

But the number of arrivals has increased: according to official figures, 17,600 people arrived in Italy this year until March 10, compared with 6,000 in the same period last year.

Ellie Schlein, the newly elected head of the center-left Democratic Party, said the shipwreck was “a disgrace to Italy and Europe” and observed a moment of silence before her first address to party officials.

On Saturday, the Italian Coast Guard announced that more than 1,300 migrants had been rescued in three operations in southern Italy, and another 200 had been rescued off the coast of Sicily.

^{Source: APE-MEB, Reuters}