Death toll rises following Italian shipwreck, as criticism mounts
The death toll following the migrant boat shipwreck off the Italian coast on February 26 has risen to 86. Authorities found five more bodies, including those of two children.
search and rescue operations sar
Malta accused of ignoring alarms again, leaving migrants to die
In the wake of the latest deadly migrant boat incident off the Libyan coast, Malta has once again been accused of ignoring alarms and leaving men, women and children to die. This time the boat that capsized was just outside the Maltese search and rescue (SAR) zone. Once again the Maltese authorities chose to ignore the alarms, some say.
Italian decree results in fewer people saved on the Mediterranean, rescuers say
Rescuers aboard search-and-rescue vessels on the Mediterranean tell InfoMigrants they're seeing far fewer search vessels at sea than normal, and the Italian decree governing missions is prohibiting them from being able to save people in distress.
Four migrants missing off Greek Island
At least four migrants are missing off the Greek Aegean island of Samos, the Greek coast guard said Thursday. Officials from the EU border agency Frontex and the Greek coast guard pulled 18 people to safety from a small motorboat in distress on Wednesday night, according to the coast guard.
Italy hands over patrol boat to Libyan government
The Italian government has handed over a search and rescue boat to Libya's foreign minister in northeastern Italy. The cooperation between the EU and Libya is highly controversial due to migrants' inhuman treatment in Libya.
Rescuers bring 105 migrants ashore in Italy
More than 100 people rescued from the Mediterranean by the NGO ship Sea-Eye 4 have disembarked in Naples. Also on board were the dead bodies of two migrants; a third died after being evacuated from the ship.
'Many missing' after another migrant shipwreck in Aegean Sea
In the second incident this week, a boat carrying migrants in the Aegean Sea has been shipwrecked. Three people have died and more than 12 are believed to be missing.
Solidarity in La Spezia for Geo Barents migrants
The community of La Spezia, in Italy's northwest, is offering help to 237 migrants who arrived at the weekend after being rescued from the Mediterranean. Among the migrants are 87 children, some of them traveling alone.
More than 300 migrants rescued by Geo Barents and Ocean Viking
More than 300 migrants have been rescued over the last few days by the private rescue ships Ocean Viking and Geo Barents, run by SOS Mediterranee and Doctors without Borders MSF respectively.
Do NGO ships encourage more migrants to cross the Mediterranean?
A recent fact-checking investigation into the claim that NGO search and rescue operations act as a pull factor for migrants has concluded that it is 'mostly false'.
Charged with saving migrants' lives – rescuers facing criminal prosecution
A case against search and rescue volunteers Sarah Mardini and Sean Binder in Greece has been shelved for now. But hundreds more people across Europe still face charges such as migrant smuggling, despite growing calls to end the criminalization of humanitarian assistance.
Lampedusa: Baby girl among three dead in shipwreck
Lampedusa has mourned the death of three migrants, including a 14-month-old girl. Their small boat, which had departed from Tunisia, capsized off the Italian island on Friday, January 6.