• Tragedy Shipwreck of migrants in Italy: "The smugglers threw us into the sea to lighten the weight of the boat"
  • At least 60 migrants, including a baby and several children, die in shipwreck in Italy

This afternoon, Italy's Council of Ministers declared a "state of emergency" on migration. It will last for six months and will be valid throughout the national territory. The measure comes after the proposal of the Minister for Civil Protection and Sea Policies, Nello Musumeci, who according to the Ansa Agency, yesterday declared: "If today we are going to declare the state of emergency? It's a very likely hypothesis." The government of the 'premier' Giorgia Meloni was already studying measures to toughen the current legislation. The state of emergency will have funding of 5 million euros to deal with the situation.

As reported by Ansa, the decision to declare a state of emergency has come after a meeting that took place yesterday between the Minister for Civil Protection and Sea Policies, Nello Musumeci and the Minister of the Interior of Italy, Matteo Piantedosi. "We are aware of the seriousness of the phenomenon that has registered a growth of 300 percent," added Musumeci, who argued that the situation is not new: "I myself had warned weeks ago. It's a problem that's destined not to end, at least for the next ten years." A situation that, as he specifies, "puts in difficulty the structures of the State since the islands alone can not withstand this emergency situation, so the state of emergency will be national."

In the last few hours alone, more than 3,000 migrants have arrived on Italian shores. In two complex and long operations, still unfinished, the Coast Guard intercepted two boats carrying 800 and 400 people in waters near Sicily and Calabria, which have joined the nearly 2,000 people that Italian authorities had already rescued in other operations since Friday, reported Efe. The fishing boat with about 800 migrants was intercepted more than 120 miles southeast of the city of Syracuse (Sicily), in a complicated operation due to the overload on board and that was coordinated at sea by the Coast Guard ship Peluso, with the support of three motor sailboats and the assistance of a merchant ship present in the area, as reported by the Coast Guard.

In the other rescue, with 400 people on a second fishing vessel, reported by the telephone alert service for migrants at sea, Alarm Phone, the Italian vessel Diciotti participated, off the Ionian Calabria. As for the situation on the island of Lampedusa, about 1,700 migrants arrived on the island in the last 48 hours, with the access point collapsed with about 1,900 people, five times its capacity, according to local media. Meanwhile, two structures are being rapidly built in Catania to accommodate some 700 rescued migrants whose arrival is scheduled between tonight and early tomorrow.

In support of search and rescue operations at sea, the air supports of the Italian Coast Guard and Frontex have also participated in the midst of the migration crisis, despite the efforts of the Meloni government to suppress irregular immigration. The arrival of the migrants has caused a situation "absolutely incapable" of managing, according to Vice President Matteo Salvini.

Salvini also recalls that "it is crucial that Europe intervenes" to regulate the situation in the country, and more after the tragic episode of Steccato di Cutro (Calabria) at the end of February, where more than 60 people lost their lives.

  • Italy
  • Matteo Salvini
  • Europe
  • Refugees
  • Beaches

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