Maurizio Massari, Italian Ambassador to the European Union, who is also on the alert to reach “unsustainable” dimensions of immigration to Italy via the Mediterranean, said that if the EU continues to leave Italy alone, it may be the case that the ports will close to these ships.

Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni accused European countries of “ignoring the problem by turning their heads in another direction.”

It has been reported that with the warming of the air, there has been a significant increase in the number of immigrants arriving from North Africa via the Mediterranean to Italy. Approximately 10 thousand migrants have attempted to reach Italy from Africa by sea in the last 4 days.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, nearly 2,000 immigrants who have traveled from Libya since the beginning of 2017 have either been killed or disappeared.

While 500 thousand immigrants reached Italy in 2014-2016, the number of immigrants reached 73 thousand this year. It is stated that 250 thousand people are expected to reach Europe by the end of 2017 if the weather continues to warm up in the summer months.

The coordination of migrant rescue work in the Mediterranean is carried out by the Italian coast guard but there are also many volunteer organizations located in the Mediterranean to rescue the immigrants in boats and in the urgent aid call.

The Italian opposition also wants the migrants saved by the ships to be taken not only to the ports of Italy but also to other EU countries that have coast to the Mediterranean. (ILKHA)