Vessels and aircraft participating in the Frontex-coordinated operation Triton helped save nearly 3 400 of the 5 300 migrants rescued last week off the Libyan coast. Most of the people were rescued in 27 operations over the weekend (Friday-Sunday), one of the busiest three-day periods since the operation was launched in November 2014.
The migrants, who came mainly from Sub-Saharan Africa, made distress calls to the Italian authorities shortly after leaving the Libyan coast. Most of them travelled in wooden and rubber boats.
“Thousands of migrants have been rescued off the Libyan coast this weekend and I am proud to say that vessels and aircraft funded by Frontex helped save more than half of them,” said Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri.
Among the Frontex-funded vessels taking part in the rescues was Norwegian Siem Pilot, which took aboard 963 people, including 71 children, rescued from two wooden boats and a rubber dinghy. The Norwegian vessel transported them to Cagliari, on the island of Sardinia.
“We have never had so many people on board before. We had many challenges on Saturday as there were so many boats in need at the same time. We are so happy that we had no casualties,” said Siem Pilot Chief Commander Lise Dunham.
In the first seven months of the year, some 95 000 migrants were rescued in the Central Mediterranean.