Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri expressed sadness over the tragic deaths of migrants in the Mediterranean this week and said that while the mandate of Frontex is border control, the agency would continue to do its utmost to assist the Italian authorities in the search and rescue operations to save migrants stranded at sea.
“I am deeply moved by this tragedy and outraged at the smugglers who are willing to put the lives of hundreds of people at the mercy of the rough seas. The 12-metre rubber dinghies with more than a hundred people crammed aboard are no match for the massive waves nearly as high as a three-story building,” Leggeri said.
On Monday night a rubber boat with 106 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa was rescued by the Italian Coast Guard, which conducted a rescue operation 120 NM from Lampedusa. Twenty-nine of the rescued migrants, including three minors, died of hypothermia. Two of the four vessels that rescued the migrants 40 NM from Tripoli are taking part in operation Triton.
The inflatable raft rescued on Monday was one of several that left a beach near Tripoli on Saturday. At least 300 migrants are feared dead.
Since the launch of the Triton operation in November, Frontex helped to save 6,000 of the 19,000 migrants on their way to Italy.
“When I was in Sicily last week, I saw in person how dangerous the Mediterranean Sea can be in the winter. Venturing out on small rubber boats in high winds and such low temperatures puts all the people aboard in grave danger,” Leggeri said.
During his first visit to EU external borders since taking office in January, Leggeri met last week with the officers deployed in the Triton operation. He also visited a reception centre in Pozzallo, where he observed a debriefing of migrants who put their lives at risk to reach the Italian coast.