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Frontex News

03 Aug 2023

Rights Groups Seek 'Credible' Probe into Fatal Greece Migrant Shipwreck

(Photo: Hellenic Coast Guard)

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch on Thursday called for a "credible" probe into a migrant shipwreck off Greece in June in which hundreds died, saying that contrasting accounts by the Greek coastguard and survivors "were extremely concerning".The overcrowded fishing trawler said to be carrying between 400-750 people from Pakistan, Syria and Egypt sank in international waters off Greece on its way to Italy from Libya. Some 104 men survived and authorities recovered only…

10 Jul 2023

Spain Possibly Locates Missing Boat Carrying 200 Migrants, Sends Help

Illustration only - Credit: Pavel Blann/Wirestock Creators

A Spanish reconnaissance plane has found what could be a fishing vessel from Senegal with about 200 migrants on board that has been missing for nearly two weeks, the maritime rescue service said on Monday."The plane has found a large boat with some 200 people on board, 71 miles to the south of Gran Canaria," a spokesperson for the service told Reuters, adding it was "possible" that it was the missing vessel.A rescue ship was on its way and would take about two-and-a-half hours to reach the location, the spokesperson added.

23 Mar 2023

Italy's Coast Guard Rescues More Than 700 Migrants

The Italian coast guard has rescued around 750 migrants in two separate operations off the country's southern coastline, hours after at least five people died and 33 were missing in an attempted sea crossing from Tunisia.The coast guard said some 295 people were rescued from a fishing boat intercepted 167 km from the eastern coast of the Calabria region, while about 450 were rescued from another fishing vessel 185 km east of Syracuse in southern Sicily.The second vessel was in precarious state of seaworthiness…

13 Mar 2023

Thirty Migrants Missing in Shipwreck off Libya. Charity Blames Italy

© Carlo Toffolo/AdobeStock

Thirty people are missing and 17 were rescued in the central Mediterranean on Sunday after the boat in which they were travelling from Libya capsized in bad weather, Italy's coastguard said.The tragedy comes just weeks after a Feb. 26 shipwreck near the southern region of Calabria, in which at least 79 died. Alarm Phone, a charity that picks up calls from migrant vessels in distress, assumed the 30 people were dead and blamed Italy for not sending its coastguard despite being repeatedly alerted on Saturday that the boat was in trouble."Clearly…

10 Mar 2023

Italy Coastguard Launches Multiple Rescues, Over 1,000 Migrants 'In Danger'

© markobe / Adobe Stock

The Italian coastguard launched multiple rescue operations on Friday to save hundreds of migrants packed aboard several boats off the toe of Italy, less than two weeks after at least 73 drowned in a shipwreck."More than 1,000 people are in danger," the coastguard said in a statement.The president of the southern Calabria region, Roberto Occhiuto, said a total of around 1,300 migrants were aboard boats which the European Union's border force Frontex had warned could run into problems.Three…

26 Nov 2021

UK, France Trade Blame as 27 Migrants Die While Trying to Cross Channel to Britain

Credit: OSORIOartist/AdobeStock

British and French officials traded blame on Wednesday after 27 migrants died when their dinghy deflated as they made a perilous crossing of the English Channel.The accident was the worst disaster on record involving migrants in the narrow seaway separating the two countries.The Channel is one of the world's busiest shipping lanes and currents are strong. Human traffickers typically overload the dinghies, leaving them barely afloat and at the mercy of waves as they try to reach…

28 Apr 2020

MEPs Urge EU to Stop Funding Libya's Coastguard

© Alberto Masnovo / Adobe Stock

Members of European Parliament say the EU should stop channeling funds to Libya to manage migration and to train its coastguard, as the violation of human rights of migrants and asylum-seekers continues.In a debate in the Civil Liberties Committee with representatives of the Commission, Frontex, UNHCR, the Council of Europe and NGOs, a majority of MEPs insisted that Libya is not a “safe country” for disembarkation of people rescued at sea and demanded that the cooperation with…

12 Nov 2019

EU Invests in Border Security, Coast Guard

Copyright: Konstantin/Adobe Stock

The European Union Council officially adopted the Commission's proposal to reinforce the European Border and Coast Guard, an agency that will acquire its own equipment, such as vessels, planes and vehicles, a will have a standing corps of 10,000 border guards. The move was announced to respond to the challenges facing Europe in managing migration and its external borders.“Today the European Union has achieved an ambitious task of transforming the EU border agency, Frontex, into a fully-fledged European Border and Coast Guard.

04 Mar 2018

Greek CG Nabs 1.3 tonnes of Cannabis

© Opra/AdobeStock

Greece's coast guard seized about 1.3 tonnes of processed cannabis, hidden aboard a foreign flagged fishing vessel intercepted off the southern island of Crete, it said on Sunday. The drug bust was the result of a three-day operation. Greek authorities had been informed by French customs that a suspect ship was sailing to the southeast of the island, possibly carrying illegal cargo. The operation involved four coast guard patrol vessels and two planes, one belonging to Frontex - the European border and coast guard agency.

02 Feb 2018

Migrant Crisis: New EU Sea Mission Launched

The European Union’s border agency Frontex launched a new Mediterranean operation called Themis on Thursday, removing the obligation of the previous mission to bring rescued migrants only to Italy. Italy has repeatedly lamented a lack of EU solidarity in managing immigration. The previous Frontex operation, called Triton, required all those rescued at sea to be brought to Italy even if another EU country, such as Malta, was closer. “Triton said that whomever rescued would be taken to Italy,” said Izabella Cooper, a spokeswoman for Frontex. Triton was a Greek god and the messenger of the sea, while Themis was the goddess of divine law and order.

30 May 2017

Dozens of Migrants Rescued from Burning Rubber Dinghy

Dozens of migrants were rescued at the weekend after jumping from a rubber dinghy that had burst into flames as they tried to get to Spain across the Mediterranean Sea. A Portuguese Air Force plane spotted the boat and managed to save all 34 migrants with the help of the sea rescue service from the Spanish city of Almeria. Video taken from the plane on Sunday and released on Monday by the European border agency, Frontex, shows flames spreading from the dinghy's outboard motor. Thousands of migrants fleeing conflict and economic hardship in the Middle East and Africa have died in recent years trying to get to Europe by sea in overcrowded, unsafe boats. European authorities are still struggling to formulate an effective response. (Writing by Mark Hanrahan in London)

12 May 2017

Ferry Service or Humanitarian Rescue Boats?

Some EU officials say NGOs inadvertently encourage people smuggling; NGOs say they are only trying to save lives. A "ferry service" that encourages people smugglers or an essential humanitarian rescue service that saves thousands of African migrants making a dangerous sea crossing to Europe? This debate among EU officials about the role of aid groups in the Mediterranean highlights their dilemma between the moral and legal obligation of helping those in need, and growing pressure from voters to keep them away. Escaping wars and poverty, more than 360,000 refugees and migrants made it to European shores across the Mediterranean last year. Most of them arrived on EU rescue vessels.

18 Apr 2017

Nearly 9,000 Med Migrants Rescued over Weekend

Nearly 9,000 mainly African migrants were rescued in the Mediterranean this past long weekend after being put by smugglers in Libya onto unseaworthy boats heading toward Italy, U.N. aid agencies said on Tuesday. The migrants, many from Nigeria and Senegal with some from Bangladesh, are among an estimated 20,000 held by criminal gangs in irregular detention centres in Libya, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said. On release, they pay to board the overcrowded boats, often just inflated rubber vessels that could not cross the Mediterranean, in the hope of starting a new life in Europe. "It is obvious that better spring weather has encouraged smugglers to take people from their detention centres," IOM spokesman Leonard Doyle told a news briefing in Geneva.

05 Jul 2016

Italy Rescues 4,500 Migrants in Mediterranean in one day

In the Mediterranean Sea in 2014, Lt. Kathleen Kostka, from Memphis, Tenn., and Lt. John Yosay, from Boardman, Ohio, both attached to Fleet Surgical Team 4, provide medical attention to migrants aboard the multipurpose amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5).  (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Julie Matyascik/Released)

ROME, July 5 (Reuters) - Some 4,500 migrants were rescued from rubber dinghies and a wooden boat in the Mediterranean on Tuesday, Italy's coast guard said, as the sea calmed after a rough weekend. More than 67,000 migrants have arrived in Italy by sea so far this year, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said before the coast guard reported the latest rescues. Arrivals are down from the same period of 2015, but the number of deaths on the perilous route has jumped. Ten women were found dead in the bottom of a rubber boat last week .

24 Jun 2016

More than 2,000 Migrants Rescued at Sea -Italy Coastguard

File photo: Italian Navy

Ship crews pulled more than 2,000 migrants from overcrowded boats in the Mediterranean on Friday, Italy's coastguard said, as people smugglers stepped up operations during two consecutive days of good weather. More than 7,100 people have now been plucked from international waters since Thursday, many of them on the dangerous journey from Libya. Europe's worst immigration crisis since World War Two is in its third year, and there has been little sign of any let up of the flow of people coming from North African to Italy since last year.

19 May 2016

NATO to Boost Effort to Stop Mediterranean Smugglers

NATO agreed on Thursday to broaden its operations in the Mediterranean to help the European Union stop criminals trafficking refugees from North Africa but will not act until the fate of rescued migrants is cleared up. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said a meeting of NATO foreign ministers supported the wider role as Europe struggles with failing states on its fringes and said NATO should link up with the EU's "Sophia" naval mission in the area. This could be a step towards NATO helping stabilise Libya by patrolling coastal waters to uphold a U.N. arms embargo and counter the growing presence of Islamic State, a step that would likely need U.N. Security Council support, diplomats said.

06 May 2016

Italy Rescues Nearly 1,800 Migrants in Mediterranean

Italian vessels have helped rescue nearly 1,800 migrants from boats trying to reach Italy from north Africa in the last 24 hours, the navy said on Friday, indicating that numbers are rising as the weather warms up. The navy said 1,759 migrants were rescued in 10 operations involving the Italian navy, coastguard and finance police, the European Union's external borders agency Frontex and the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres. The Italian frigate Grecale was taking the migrants to the Sicilian port of Augusta, where they were expected to arrive on Saturday morning, a navy statement said. It gave no details of their nationalities.

04 May 2016

Maritime Surveillance Drone Testing to Begin this Summer

Photo: TEKEVER

The AR5 Life Ray UAS, developed by TEKEVER, has been selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) to demonstrate the first European maritime surveillance system where drones are integral to operations. The first demonstration will be performed this summer over the Maltese waters of the Mediterranean sea, said Pedro Sinogas, TEKEVER CEO, at the AUVSI Xponential show in New Orleans, La. Maritime operations have been brought into focus in Europe by the unprecedented migrant crisis.

07 Mar 2016

NATO Mission Moving into Greek, Turkish Waters

NATO sent its ships into Greek and Turkish waters in the Aegean Sea on Monday to counter the criminal networks smuggling migrants into Europe, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said, overcoming territorial sensitivities in Greece and Turkey. "NATO is starting activities in territorial waters today," Stoltenberg told a news conference in Brussels, flanked by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. "We are expanding our cooperation with the EU's border agency Frontex and we are expanding the number of ships in our deployment," he said, saying that France and Britain had agreed to send ships to the Aegean. Germany is leading the NATO mission that was agreed on Feb. 11, which also includes ships from Canada, Turkey and Greece. Until now, ships had been in international waters.

08 Mar 2016

SNMG2 Expands into Waters of Greece and Turkey

Photo: HQ MARCOM

The German flagship of Standing NATO Maritime Group Two (SNMG2) FGS BONN is the first NATO ship to enter the area of activity for a first patrol around the Greek island of Lesbos. Over the weekend, NATO had expanded the area of activity into the territorial waters of Turkey and Greece, in close coordination with both Allies. NATO also expanded its cooperation with the EU’s border agency Frontex. “We are able to support the local authorities with our sensors, amplifying their capabilities.

21 Mar 2016

Italy Rescues 910 Boat Migrants, Finds One Body

More than 900 migrants were rescued in four separate operations in the Strait of Sicily on Saturday and emergency services recovered one corpse, Italy's coast guard said. Now into the second year of its worst migration crisis since World War Two, Europe has seen more than 1.2 million people arrive since the beginning of 2015, most of them from Africa and the Middle East. Italy's coast guard has continued to pick up migrants in trouble in the stretch of water between its southern coast and North Africa, although most people seeking a better life in Europe have taken less dangerous routes to Greece. On Saturday, the Italian coast guard said it had rescued 378 migrants in two separate operations and found one body.

04 Apr 2016

Migrants Returned from Greece arrive in Turkey

Three passenger boats return migrants from Lesbos, Chios; desperate migrants continue to cross despite deal. The first migrants deported from Greek islands under a disputed EU-Turkey deal were shipped back to Turkey on Monday in a drive to shut down the main route by which a million people fleeing war and poverty crossed the Aegean Sea in the last year. Under the pact criticised by refugee agencies and human rights campaigners, Ankara will take back all migrants and refugees who enter Greece illegally, including Syrians. In return, the European Union will take in thousands of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey and reward it with more money, early visa-free travel and progress in its EU membership negotiations.

07 Apr 2016

Hundreds of Migrants Arrive in Italy from Egypt

Italy's coast guard said on Thursday it had rescued more than 300 migrants from a packed boat in which they had travelled hundreds of kilometres (miles) from Egypt to the Strait of Sicily. People fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East have been arriving in southern Italian waters for years, usually from Libya, where they pay smugglers for the passage. A spokeswoman for the Italian coast guard said migrants had arrived from Egypt in the past, but much less frequently than from Libya, which is about half as far away by boat. Italy's coast guard and a Spanish aircraft working for European Union border agency Frontex went on Wednesday to the aid of the boat, rescuing 156 men, 51 women and 107 minors.