French maritime police rescues 217 migrants fleeing to Italy

dimeji akinloye

May 3, 2015 3:56 PM

The French maritime police said that their patrol ship the migrants from three small boats.

About 217 migrants, who were fleeing to Europe for greener pastures, have been rescued off the coast of Libya after they ran into trouble.

The French maritime police said on Sunday, May 3, in Paris that their patrol ship rescued 217 migrants from three small boats that had run into trouble off the coast of Libya on Saturday night.

It said two suspected people smugglers were also arrested, while the intercepted vessels have all been neutralised.

The maritime police said the rescued migrants and the suspected people smugglers have been handed over to the Italian authorities.

The sea is one of the main routes into the European Union for tens of thousands of mostly Asian and African migrants fleeing war and poverty, with almost 40,000 people having arrived this year already.

A migrant boat sank with the loss of more than 700 lives last month, raising pressure for action by EU countries, who pledged to step up search and rescue operations in the southern Mediterranean.

dimeji akinloye

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