Migrants' bodies brought ashore as EU proposes doubling rescue effort

(Agencies) Updated: 2015-04-21 09:56

Surviving immigrants (C) arrive by Italian coastguard ship Bruno Gregoretti in Catania's Harbour, Italy, April 20, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

"Slavery"

Italy and Malta were working to rescue another two boats carrying an estimated 400 people off the coast of Libya on Monday. Hundreds of kilometers to the east, coast guardsmen were struggling to save scores of migrants from another vessel destroyed after running aground off the Greek island of Rhodes.

The Greek coast guard said at least three people were killed there. Television pictures showed survivors clinging to floating debris while rescuers pulled them from the waves.

Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi compared the smuggling of migrants across the Mediterranean to the African slave trade of centuries ago. "When we say we are in the presence of slavery, we are not using the word just for effect," he said.

Following an investigation launched after hundreds of migrants drowned near the Italian island of Lampedusa in 2013, prosecutors in Palermo on Monday announced they had arrested 24 suspected traffickers suspected of organising the transport of thousands of Ethiopians and Eritreans to Italy.

However, it was not yet clear whether they had any connection with the latest disaster.

"The investigations are continuing and we will see if there is any responsibility for the latest incidents," Palermo police chief Guido Longo told reporters.

Among those named in the investigation were an Ethiopian and an Eritrean based in Libya who were suspected of being two of the key figures profiting from the so-called "Libyan route". They were not among those arrested.

European officials are struggling to come up with a policy to respond more humanely to an exodus of migrants travelling by sea from Africa and Asia to Europe, without worsening the crisis by encouraging more to leave.

"Search and rescue alone is not a silver bullet," said German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere. "If you just organise search and rescue, criminals who get the refugees on board will send more boats."