UK Royal Navy saves over 400 migrants in Mediterranean

PanARMENIAN.Net - The British Royal Navy's flagship saved Wednesday, May 13, more than 400 migrants from dangerous boats trying to cross the Mediterranean, in the warship's biggest rescue since it began patrolling the sea, The Telegraph reports.

HMS Bulwark was alerted to four 30-ft inflatable boats packed with around 100 people each, 40 miles off the coast of Libya.

The passengers, who include children and pregnant women, are being ferried to safety by the amphibious command and control ship's landing craft.

Wednesday's mission means the warship has been involved in the rescue of around 600 people in only a week of patrols in the Mediterranean.

The rubber boats were taking on water and in a perilous condition when Bulwark was alerted by the Italian coastguard in the early hours of Wednesday. The warship sent its landing craft to fetch the passengers onto the 19,000 tonne ship.

Capt Nick Cooke-Priest, the vessel's commander, said: "In Navy parlance these precarious boats were ‘full to the gunwales’, including many people with dehydration, those with injuries, very young children and several pregnant women.

"The weather at the moment is extremely hot so my ship’s company and I are very pleased that we were able to bring them to safety. It’s unclear what would have happened to them but the risk of further injury or worse is of course considerable."

The migrants are likely to be put ashore on Sicily for the Italian authorities to deal with, Navy sources said, according to The Telegraph.

Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, said: "HMS Bulwark and her crew have already proved an invaluable asset in assisting with the Mediterranean migrant crisis.

"The ship is providing medical assistance, food, water and dry clothes to those in need and will transfer them safely to land as soon as possible."

Data compiled by Eurostat, the European Commission’s own statistics agency, showed Britain gave asylum protection to 14,065 people in 2014, while other large European states accepted just a few hundred each.

Britain’s intake was the fifth largest in the EU. Germany took the most at more than 47,500, followed by Sweden with 33,000, while France and Italy granted protection to about 20,600 each.

Spain, one of the more populous countries in the EU with 46 million people, gave asylum to just 1,600 asylum applicants last year and Poland – with a population of 38 million – took just 740.

Ireland took 495 while Portugal’s figure was 40, down from 135 the previous year.

Britain’s intake comprised 2,275 Eritreans, 1,650 Iranians and 1,455 Syrians. Syrians made up 37 per cent of all European asylum beneficiaries.