In the course of a significant operation in a location where migrant numbers have increased over the past year, the Italian Coast Guard was on duty on Tuesday escorting two boats in the Mediterranean Sea carrying 1,200 migrants.
Alarm Phone, a volunteer-operated hotline, said that emergency personnel were rushing to save 400 migrants from a barge that had run out of gasoline.
Later on Monday, the Coast Guard informed CNN that it was escorting a different vessel with 800 migrants.
“Due to the prohibitive sea conditions, the Peluso ship, the Diciotti ship and the Coast Guard patrol boats are escorting the two units, in difficulty since yesterday, with migrants on board,” the Coast Guard said on Twitter. “The ships, carrying 400 and 800 migrants, got into trouble in rough seas on Monday.”
Alarm Phone said in a tweet earlier that it had spoken to passengers at 10.56 a.m. local time (4.56 a.m. ET), describing the situation on board as “dramatic,” with the boat starting to leak. “They report several medical emergencies, water filling the vessel and no fuel left. We have informed the authorities,” Alarm phone said.
The coast guard is traveling next to the boat en route to Italy because an escort is “safer” than attempting to rescue those on board in poor weather, said Felix Weiss, a spokesman for Sea-Watch International, a German organization that runs search and rescue operations in the central Mediterranean.
The migrants had been stranded along an immigration route between Italy and Malta that NGOs have warned is perilously dangerous.
The boat with 400 migrants departed from Tobruk, Libya, and had been at risk of capsizing with water in the hull, according to Alarm Phone. The service also said many on board required medical attention, including a child, a pregnant woman and a disabled person.
The Italian Coast Guard also said Monday that more than 1,700 migrants had arrived on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa in the last 48 hours. Lampedusa, the closest Italian island to Africa, is a major destination for migrants seeking to enter European Union countries.
Every year, tens of thousands of migrants fleeing war, persecution and poverty risk the treacherous route in search of safety and better economic prospects. In many cases, their vessels are overcrowded and unfit for the journey, and the need to rescue migrants on board often leads to disputes between countries about who should take them in.
More than 28,000 migrants have arrived in Italy so far this year, according to the country’s Interior Ministry – a significant surge compared to recent years. The number of migrants arriving in Italy this year are the highest seen in the country since 2017, according to figures by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Most arrivals have journeyed from the Ivory Coast, Guinea, Bangladesh, Tunisia and Pakistan.