Two Migrants Dead, One Missing in Apparent Collision With Rescue Boat
An apparent collision between an Italian coast guard rescue boat and a migrant craft left two dead and one missing over the weekend, the agency said in a statement Monday.
On Saturday evening, the Guardia Costiera responded to a vessel in distress about 17 miles off the coast of Syracuse. The response boat CP 323 was dispatched to the scene and found "difficult" conditions on arrival. The weather and sea surface were rough, and the challenges of a nighttime rescue were exacerbated by low visibility.
Based on an initial reconstruction of the events, the patrol boat appears to have collided with the migrant vessel in the waves and the dark. Multiple occupants of the migrant craft ended up in the water, and the response boat crew brought 34 survivors on board. One of them died of a pulmonary embolism as the boat made its way back to shore, and another individual passed away after he was delivered to shore and taken to a hospital for care. One person remains missing, and a search effort was still under way as of Monday.
10 more survivors sustained serious injuries, including fractures, and were delivered to hospitals around the region for higher care.
The prosecutor's office in Syracuse is investigating the circumstances of the casualty, and the Italian Coast Guard is cooperating in the probe.
Italy seeks to process new arrivals outside of its borders
Italy is the primary destination for maritime migrants in the Central Mediterranean, and the high number of new arrivals is politically controversial. The Italian government has reached a deal with the government of Albania to host new migrants outside of Italy's borders, using a newly-built processing center at the Albanian port of Shenjin.
Under the plan, the Italian Coast Guard will transfer male migrants who are rescued off Lampedusa onto a chartered passenger ship. The ship will take migrants from "safe" countries to the processing center in Albania, where their asylum claims will be evaluated. If deemed ineligible, they will be deported, without ever touching Italian soil.
Critics of the plan question whether it yields good value for money, given a price tag of up to $850 million over five years, and whether it will be possible to exercise proper oversight of asylum proceedings in a facility outside of Italy's borders. The opening has been briefly delayed by construction, but the center is still expected to start up later in the month.