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Influx of migrants across Mediterranean grew 300% in 2013
Influx of migrants across Mediterranean has reached 'Biblical proportions', Italy's navy chief warns, as criminal gangs wreak havoc on the high seas
- Adm. Giuseppe De Giorgi says migrants into Europe grown 'exponentially'
- Says number of migrants entering Italy by boat grew 300 per cent in 2013
- Comes as Angelino Alfano warns half a million migrants waiting in N Africa
- Since October last year almost 19,000 migrants have landed in Italy
Desperate: A boat packed with African migrants approach the coastline of Lampedusa, Italy, the gateway for illegal migrants entering Europe
Quote:
The emergency comes as Italy's interior minister, Angelino Alfano, warned that more than half a million migrants are ready to set sail from North Africa.
Since October last year almost 19,000 migrants have landed on the Italian coastline, roughly a ten-fold increase on the year before. British experts believe one in five continue on to the UK.
Italy's southernmost island, Lampedusa, 70 miles off Tunisia, is the gateway for illegal migrants entering Europe.
More than 40,000 people made the crossing to Italy last year, often in crowded and unseaworthy boats.
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Sent back: Migrants, who were arrested after an attempt to reach Europe, wait yesterday before being transferred to police facilities in Tripoli, Libya
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz2ybdWSwSC
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