The Alarm Phone organisation announced on Friday that 500 migrants need to be rescued from a boat off the coast of Sicily due to a sharp rise in sea arrivals to Italy and a recent fatal disaster.
The organisation that answers calls from migrant boats in difficulty stated on Twitter that it had informed “relevant authorities” and pleaded with them to send help right away.
The boat departed from Libya and is currently “south of Sicily” in the Italian SAR maritime zone, according to Alarm Phone. Frontex, an EU border force that runs spotter flights off the coast of Italy, declined to comment right away.
Following a shipwreck on February 26 near the southern region of Calabria, in which at least one migrant died, Italy’s migrant sea rescue skills have come under criticism.
