Croatian Navy once more in action saving stranded immigrants.
Croatian Ministry of Defence has announced that the crew of the Croatian Navy Ship Andrija Mohorovičić, which participates in the joint European Union humanitarian operation Triton, over the weekend took part in the rescue of 305 migrants, reports Novi List on August 16, 2015.
The navy ship, which was boarded by 124 children, 58 women and 123 men, is currently sailing towards Sicily where the rescued migrants will arrive on Sunday.
The crew of the Croatian Navy Ship Andrija Mohorovičić began its operations on August 1, and the very next day they saved 37 people at sea. A few days later, it took part, together with Swedish ship Poseidon, in the rescue of 476 migrants.
According to the latest report of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) released last week, since January about 224,000 migrants have crossed the Mediterranean in order to get into Europe – 98,000 to Italy and 124,000 to Greece – with more than 2,100 of them dying during the journey.
Last weekend, according to data of the Italian Coast Guard, in several separate rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea over a thousand migrants in precarious vessels were rescued.
Operation Triton, which was demanded by the Italian authorities, was launched on 1 November 2014 in the central Mediterranean region, in order to monitor and protect the EU’s borders at sea and rescue migrants.
The Croatian Navy Ship Andrija Mohorovičić with 49 members of the Croatian Armed Forces and five members of the Border Police will take part in the operation Triton until the end of October. Croatia is one of 27 European countries which participate in the mission with its personnel and technical equipment.
