Around 500 migrants need to be rescued from a boat off the coast of Sicily, Alarm Phone said today, amid a dramatic increase in sea arrivals to Italy and the wake of a deadly shipwreck.
The organisation, which operates an emergency hotline for migrants in danger at sea, said on Twitter that it had informed the "competent authorities" and told them: "Don't waste time: send help immediately!"
The vessel left Libya and is "south of Sicily" in Italy's maritime search and rescue (SAR) zone, Alarm Phone added. Frontex declined to immediately comment.
Italy's skills in sea rescues of migrants came under the microscope after the February 26 shipwreck near the Calabria region in the south of the country, where at least 72 migrants died.
Italy's right-wing government announced on Thursday tougher penalties for migrant smugglers and pledges to crack down on irregular sea crossings while opening legal migration routes.
The announcement did not stop irregular migrant flows, with almost 3.000 people arriving in Italy since Wednesday, compared with about 1.300 for the whole of March last year. Only yesterday, 1.869 migrants arrived on the island of Lampedusa on 41 different boats, as reported by the ANSA agency, speaking of a record number.
Source: RES-EAP