Italy ends sea rescue mission that saved more than 100,000 migrant lives

An Italian sea rescue mission that has saved the lives of more than 100,000 migrants from Africa and the Middle East has been shuttered – a move rights group warned could lead to a “surge of deaths” in the Mediterranean. Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said the Mare Nostrum or “Our Sea” mission would end to make way for a smaller European Union scheme - and to help relieve the strain on Italy’s public finances amid a three-year economic slump.

We understand that by withdrawing this rescue cover we will be leaving innocent children, women and men to drown who we would otherwise have saved. But once [word gets around] they will think twice about making the journey. And so eventually, over time, more lives will be saved.

UK Foreign Office Minister Joyce Anelay

The Italian navy began Mare Nostrum just over a year ago when more than 360 men, women and children - mostly Eritreans - drowned when their overcrowded boat capsized a mile off the Sicilian island of Lampedusa. Alfano said Italy had spent 114 million euros to operate the mission over the past year and the closure would reduce spending “to zero”. The Triton mission, which replaces Mare Nostrum, will only patrol within 30 nautical miles from the Italian coast.

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