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Search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea are being mounted by two leading international aid organisations, in an attempt to prevent desperate refugees trying to cross to Europe from drowning.

Online publisher EU Business.com reports that Medecins Sans Frontieres and Migrant Offshore Aid Station have announced they will mount a “life-saving” operation in the Mediterranean this summer

The aid organisations have also criticised EU governments for scaling back their efforts to find and rescue desperate migrants crossing the Mediterranean.

Operation Mare Nostrum was ended last year and was replaced by a smallscale search and rescue enterprise Triton – run by EU border agency Frontex – which only mounts search and rescue operations within 30 miles of the Italian coastline and not the whole Mediterranean Sea.

Home Secretary Theresa May supported the scaling back of search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean, saying that widescale search and rescue encouraged more migrants to attempt to cross from Libya and the port of Alexandria in a desperate attempt to reach Europe.

Italy and Libya have in the past called for more EU help with dealing with the constant flow of migrants fleeing war zones and civil unrest across Africa and the Middle East. Many of the refugees are from Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Eritrea.

Malta and Greece have also had to cope with an influx of migrants reaching their shores.

Once migrants have arrived in Europe, they are free to move across borders without being checked – the sheer numbers have also made it difficult for receiving nations such as Italy to process all the refugees before they disperse across EU member states.

The United Nations Refugee Agency has called on the UK to accept more migrants, including those from the conflict in Syria.

There is currently a build up at Calais of newly arrived migrants desperate to cross to the UK from France and settle in Britain. Authorities in Calais have threatened to overturn the UK border policed by UK border officials in Calais and allow the migrants to cross to Britain unhindered.

In a statement, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) said:

“The life-saving operation will run from May to October, when thousands of people are expected to risk their lives attempting to reach safe haven in Europe.”

MSF and MOAS search and rescue teams will be stationed in the central Mediterranean aboard the 40-metre vessel MY Phoenix.

MSF's general director Arjan Hehenkamp said:

“Europe has turned its back on people fleeing some of the worst humanitarian crises of our time.”
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has described the Mediterranean Sea as “the world's deadliest route of all” for migrants.

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