Malmström proposes Med-wide search and rescue mission for migrant boats
The European Commission has urged the European Union to launch a Mediterranean-wide search and rescue mission to intercept migrant boats.
The European Commission is proposing that the EU launch a Mediterranean-wide search and rescue mission to intercept migrant boats, the BBC is reporting.
Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said she will present the plan to EU ministers in Luxembourg on Tuesday. The proposal comes after hundreds died after the Lampedusa tragedy.
The alleged skipper of the Lampedusa boat, a Tunisian man, is being held in Sicily, suspected of manslaughter.
The Commission's plan calls for an operation by the EU's Frontex border agency "from Cyprus to Spain", a spokesperson for Malmström told the BBC.
"The search and rescue operation would help better tracking, identification and rescue of boats, especially migrants' boats," the spokesperson said. "It could help prevent tragedies like the one in Lampedusa."
Divers have recovered dozens more bodies from a boat carrying African migrants that sank off the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa on Thursday. The victims were mostly from Eritrea and Somalia.
According to the BBC, in Luxembourg Malmström will seek political support for the planned EU mission and the necessary resources, because to implement it, "Frontex will need additional resources".