Due to a substantial increase in the number of migrants arriving by sea in Italy and a recent fatal accident, the Alarm Phone organization said on Friday that 500 migrants must be saved from a boat off the coast of Sicily.
The organization that responds to distress calls from migrant boats tweeted that it had alerted “relevant authorities” and asked with them to deliver assistance immediately.
According to Alarm Phone, the boat left Libya and is currently “south of Sicily” in the Italian SAR maritime zone. Frontex declined to immediately respond. Frontex is an EU border patrol that operates spotter flights off the coast of Italy.
Italy’s abilities in migrant sea rescue have come under fire following a shipwreck on February 26 near the southern region of Calabria, in which at least one migrant died.