The European Union’s Naval Force in the Mediterranean, which is known as Operation IRINI (EUNAVFOR MED IRINI), has investigated 311 merchant vessels and monitored 15 suspicious flights in March this year, announced the European mission on Tuesday, April 04.
In its monthly report, the naval mission also stated Turkey has refused consent to board and inspect its suspicious vessels on ten occasions so far (one more since December 2022).
On the other hand, Italy’s Coast Guard said on Monday it was forced to use a helicopter to rescue 32 migrants, including a child, who had been stranded on a desert island in the central Mediterranean since the previous say. Picking the migrants from the islet of Lampione, part of the same archipelago as Lampedusa island, proved impossible via sea due to “particularly adverse” sea and weather conditions, the Coast Guard said in a statement.
The helicopter took the migrants to Lampedusa, the usual landing spot for sea migrants who set off from Tunisia and Libya, making several trips amid winds of up to 50 knots, the statement added.
