On Thursday, 20 bodies of people who came on a boat packed with migrants sank off the Libyan coast were seen, although the naval mission of the European Union was able to rescue thousands of other migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean due to good weather conditions.
The ship, turned and sank to just over 50 kilometers from the Libyan port of Zuwarah with an undetermined number of passengers, was found on Thursday by a Luxembourg plane. The rescue of the survivors was developed by the Reina Sofía Spanish navy frigate, who managed to climb on board 77 people. Two Italian coastguard rescued 11 more. Reina Sofia and was carrying several migrants from other rescues more than had done the same day.
Rino Gentile, communications officer Navfor, the European naval force to rescue migrants and combating trafficking in the Mediterranean, said that can only be known if the number of dead bodies recovered.
The tranquility of the sea and the pleasant temperature led to hundreds of migrants trying to cross the waters from North Africa to Italy this week.
The closure of the route between Turkey and Greece, following an agreement between the European Union and Ankara earlier this year to end the flow of asylum seekers and migrants fleeing Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, could have added more pressure on the Italian route.
Until Wednesday, the number of people, especially African countries, which this year have reached Italy by sea is 40,500. Last year at this time the numbers were similar, as they had reached 41,500, according to figures from the Italian Interior Ministry.
The International Organization for Migration estimates that in this period 1370 people have drowned. On Wednesday, before the eyes of the rescuers who could not approach his boat as it sank overloaded with people, they killed seven.
More than 500 survivors of that shipwreck arrived Thursday to Porto Empedocle, in Sicily, where they received medical care and started the process to determine their legal status. Rescuers have been unable to determine whether inside the sunken ship were people who went to the bottom of the sea with the ship.
There are 115,000 immigrants in Italy, more than five times the number it had in 2013 according to the Ministry of Interior. The government distributes them across the 20 regions of the country. In Lombardy and Sicily is 25 percent of the newcomers.
"The receiving system is always under pressure, but so far Italy has been able to provide necessary first aid" and distributed to newcomers to different ports to receive the necessary help and legal assistance, as Flavio Di Giacomo , spokesman for the International Organization for Migration.
"There is no doubt that if the flow continues with this intensity, will become more difficult to find host structures, but so far Italy has demonstrated that it can manage."
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