An Italian Navy ship on Wednesday rescued 290 desperate Eritrean migrants from a rickety boat on the Mediterranean, as they attempted to reach safer shores in Europe. CNN's Christiane Amanpour was onboard the frigate as it conducted the operation, just one of several carried out by the Navy today. "It is people taking their lives in their hands, getting on these boats," Amanpour told. "They've either been peddled a bunch of lies from the human traffickers, who advertise that this is a comfortable and reliable trip from Libyan ports across the Mediterranean, when of course it isn't, or they just basically say to themselves as the gentleman told me, you know, 'I would rather risk this than death at home."
More than 35,000 migrants have arrived in Italy via the Mediterranean this year alone, and the numbers continue to climb, says the International Organization for Migration. Most are Eritrean, but they come from all over Africa and Syria. At least 1,826 migrants have died in the Mediterranean so far this year, many times more than had perished during the same period last year. "We did see one of those who tried to get across to safety in this small, rickety boat was dead on arrival," Amanpour reported. "And three others were taken to the helicopter on the island of Lampedusa. So they were given emergency care there. The rest will be staying on board until they can be offloaded at Lampedusa, or somewhere else, and then processed on land."
Europe has come under severe criticism for not taking the humanitarian crisis more seriously. After a series of disasters last month, the EU has stepped up funding. But critics still say that countries are approaching the problem too militaristically; the EU on Monday agreed to set up a naval mission to go after the gangs that facilitate the perilous crossing. Italy has borne the brunt of the rescue mission as Europe struggle to deal with an influx of refugees and migrants braving unimaginable conditions at sea.
"It's an extraordinarily complex process. It takes quite a long time to rescue boat of 300 people. They have to make sure that there's nothing hostile on board. Then all the naval personnel suit up in white hazardous material suits with masks and gloves -- we all had to do the same thing -- in order to make sure that you don't get contaminated by any potential disease, any illness. The weather is good today, and that attracted some of these migrants. It may not get so good tomorrow, and people are quite concerned that migrants might set off from Libya, and then find themselves in very hostile, unfriendly, and swelling seas in these terrible boats."
(Adapted from: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/20/world/)
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