Italy commandeers ship carrying 500 migrants

Italy commandeers ship carrying 500 migrants
# 10 December 2014 04:24 (UTC +04:00)

Italian coastguard personnel boarded the vessel when it was sailing some 90 miles off the coast of Reggio Calabria on Tuesday.

Authorities then sailed the ship to the port town of Crotone to avoid the risk of moving the migrants onto another vessel at sea.

Italy has long faced the challenge of illegal migrants coming from Africa in search of better job opportunities in European countries. The number of migrants has steadily soared since 2011.

Over 100,000 migrants, who tried to cross the Mediterranean, have been saved under Italy’s "Mare Nostrum" or "Our Sea" program which was launched in October last year.

Mare Nostrum, which included five war ships on permanent patrol, started after more than 360 migrants died when their boat capsized a mile off the coast of Lampedusa.

However, the costly operation has recently been discontinued over concerns that it puts extra strain on the Italian economy, which is suffering its third recession in six years.

The pan-European project called Triton has since replaced the Mare Nostrum program.

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THE OPERATION IS BEING PERFORMED