Humanitarian
ships rescued almost 1,200 migrants who were crossing the Mediterranean Sea at
the weekend on an array of small, tightly packed boats, Doctors Without Borders
said on Sunday.
A young
woman was found unconscious on one of the vessels and later died, the group
said.
Some 412
people were crammed onto a single wooden boat, while the others were picked up
from huge inflatable dinghies, which had set sail from the coast of Libya.
The weekend
rescues mean that about 22,000 mainly African migrants have been picked up
heading to Italy so far this year, while around 520 have died trying to make
the crossing.
An Italian
prosecutor said last week that humanitarian ships operating off Libya were
undermining the fight against people smugglers and opening a corridor that is
ultimately leading to more migrant deaths.
The chief
prosecutor of the Sicilian port city of Catania, Carmelo Zuccaro, said he also
suspected that there may be direct communication between Libya-based smugglers
and members of charity-operated rescue vessels.
Non-governmental
organizations deny any wrongdoing, saying they are simply looking to save
lives, but they are facing criticism in Italy, which has taken in about half a
million migrants since the start of 2014.
A parliamentarian
with the right-wing Northern League party on Sunday accused the NGOs of acting
as a "taxi service", bringing migrants straight to Italy rather than
to closer nations, such as Tunisia and Malta.
"If the
government does not decide to put a brake on these NGO boats, we will find
ourselves overrun by tens of thousands of African immigrants by the end of the
year," lawmaker Paolo Grimoldi said.
Migrants who
have come this year have told of increasing violence and brutality in Libya,
where rival factions battle for power and people smugglers operate with
impunity since the 2011 overthrow of former leader Muammar Gaddafi.
(Reuters)
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