Thousands of migrants saved from Mediterranean in massive rescue effort
Thousands of migrants and refugees were rescued off the coast of Libya on Monday during a large scale effort involving Italian naval ships and other vessels.
Some 3,000 people who had been traveling in around 20 wooden boats, most of them from Eritrea and Somalia, were saved.
Proactiva Open Arms and Doctors Without Borders were among the groups involved in the rescue, which took place 13 miles north of the Libyan town of Sabratha, the Associated Press reports.
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The people saved had just a small amount of fuel in their boats and hoped to make it at least 15 to 20 miles out to sea to reach awaiting rescuers.
In 2015, over 1 million migrants made it to Europe. However, thousands have not been so lucky. In May, over 700 were feared dead after numerous shipwrecks were discovered.
Some of the women rescued Monday had young children and infants with them on the perilous trip.
With migration routes through Turkey and the Balkans restricted, more and more people are trying the Mediterranean route between Libya and Italy. Political chaos in Libya has resulted in a lack of border controls in the country.
Some 106,000 have made it to Italy so far this year, with at least 2,726 perishing in the attempt, the BBC reports.
In June, the European Union expanded its anti-smuggling operation in the central Mediterranean to include training Libyan coastal and naval forces, which are intercepting boats and returning migrants to Libya, where some are being held in abusive conditions.
Rights groups and experts estimate that there are about 3,500 migrants held in roughly 20 official detention facilities across Libya. Others are held in informal detention centers controlled by criminal gangs or armed groups.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
Tim Chester was Senior Editor, Real Time News in Los Angeles. Before that he was Deputy Editor of Mashable UK in London. Prior to joining Mashable, Tim was a Senior Web Editor at Penguin Random House, helping to relaunch the Rough Guides website and other travel brands. He was also a writer for Buzzfeed, GQ and The Sunday Times, covering everything from culture to tech and current affairs. Before that, he was Deputy Editor at NME.COM, overseeing content and development on the London-based music and entertainment site. Tim loves music and travel and has combined these two passions at festivals from Iceland to Malawi and beyond.
