Until the end of 2013 ships that were operating in civil capacity were forbidden according to Italian law to come to the aid of refugee boats in dire straits. If, let’s say, a fisherman boat were to sight one of those notorious unseaworthy but still helplessly overcrowded boats, it would veer away and abandon its passangers to their fate. Following the tragedy off the coast of Lampedusa in October 2013 with around 360 dead refugees, the Italian government changed those laws and initated the operation “Mare Nostrum” to actively watch out for and rescue troubled boats. By its own account the Italien coast guard in the first half of this year has brang around 65’000 people safely ashore.
Last week saw yet another two major catastrophes in the Mediterranean. Near Malta, smugglers deliberately dumped a boat carrying around 500 migrants. Only a few of which survived. It has been the most […]

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