(AP) The number of migrants reaching Italy by sea shot up from the previous 12-month period, but in contrast to recent years, the majority of the arrivals didn’t need rescue and made it to shore by themselves.
According to Interior Ministry figures released Saturday, from Aug. 1, 2019, through July 31 of this year, 16,347 migrants reached Italian shores in small boats without help, while 5,271 were rescued at sea, most of those by charity boats.
The total represents a 149% increase compared to the previous 12-month period, when 8,691 migrants arrived, most of them rescued at sea. But those numbers are very low when compared to several recent years.
In the year up through July 2015, some 175,000 migrants were plucked to safety in the Mediterranean from smugglers’ boats and brought to Italy. From August 2016 through July 2017, the number was even higher — about 183,000.
