More migrants attempt Mediterranean crossing to Italy

Almost 6,000 migrants have been rescued by Italian Naval and Coast Guard vessels off the coast of Libya in the past three days, as improving weather pushes a growing number to attempt the Mediterranean crossing to seek refuge in Europe.

If the sharp increase in migrant flows to Italy persists over the summer, it will raise pressure on EU nations to expand Triton, its border control mission in the central Mediterranean, and provide it with more funding.

It could also provide further impetus for a resolution of the civil war in Libya, which erupted in the aftermath of the 2011 toppling of dictator Muammer Gaddafi and has allowed the human smugglers who arrange the crossings in rickety boats and rubber dinghies, to flourish.

Italian officials have in recent months stepped up their calls for other EU nations to pay more attention to its "southern flank" - compared with the Ukraine crisis lapping its northern borders - but their appeals have had a limited effect.

On Monday, the Italian coast guard said that 5,629 migrants had been picked up as rescue vessels came to the aid of 22 migrant boats over the weekend. In at least one case they were unsuccessful, and nine people drowned in the open sea, authorities said.

The migrants who were saved were taken to ports across southern Italy for initial processing and medical treatment, before they are sent to welcome centres across the country.

In the first three months of the year, about 10,000 migrants sought to reach Italy by sea, according to interior ministry data, meaning that the pace of crossings has increased dramatically in recent days.

Last year, Italy wound down its own search-and-rescue operation, known as Mare Nostrum, amid pressure from EU countries and domestic political opposition who believed it was actually encouraging migration.

Triton has since been launched but its funding is far less generous and its mission is less expansive, since it only patrols waters within 30 miles of the Italian coast and does not venture further to hunt for distressed boats.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees on Monday released a statement saying that 500 people were already estimated to have died crossing to Europe by sea this year - a thirty-fold increase over the same period in 2014.

"This data shows that the forces in the field are not sufficient to tackle the flows and without adequate monitoring and search-and-rescue operations at sea it is inevitable that many other people will lose their lives in an attempt to reach safety in Europe," the UNHCR said.

So far this year, the top nationalities reaching Italy by sea have been from Gambia and Senegal in west Africa. For all of 2014, the top nationalities for migrants crossing the Mediterranean were Syrian and Eritrean.

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