In its bi-monthly report published on January 2, Alarm Phone, the distress hotline for migrant boats in the Mediterranean, says it recorded 95 distress cases involving 3,184 migrants. The non-profit organization also recorded more than 300 people as dead or missing.
The Blue Marlin II was once used to smuggle people from the Albania to Italy. Now, the boat will help rehabilitate young Italian criminals.
The mayor of the southern Italian island of Lampedusa says that boats used by migrants can become a danger to the community and the environment, after they have been abandoned on the island.
Malta has signed a ‘secret deal’ with Libyan authorities to intercept migrants before they reach Maltese waters and take them back to Libya, the ‘The Times of Malta’ has reported. The Maltese government denies the charge.
The number of autonomous or so-called "phantom" migrant landings has gone up this year, according to Italian Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese. Meanwhile, the number of sea arrivals and new asylum applicants decreased.