Hargeisa(Wajaalenews);An Italian Navy vessel is seen packed with refugees after more than 1,000 migrants were saved from the Mediterranean in the last 24 hours. Five migrants died trying to make the dangerous journey

One of the dead was brought onto the navy’s Etna vessel by a merchant ship from Malta, while the other four were taken onto the Orione patrol boat from a Cypriot vessel.

The Italian navy said Etna had rescued 363 survivors from the waters, the Orione 440 and another vessel, the Driade, saved 223 people.

Italian authorities said they had rescued a total of 1,026 survivors during several missions by the country’s navy in the Strait of Sicily in the last 24 hours

Five of the desperate refugees died as they attempted the deadly crossing from Africa to Europe

Earlier this month the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, estimated that 3,419 migrants had died while attempting to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe since January 1, making it the deadliest sea route for migrants.

Most of the 207,000 who attempted to seek asylum or emigrate through making the perilous crossing were from Syria or Eritrea.

Many of them had left Libya bound for Italy and Malta, and were either looking for work or seeking asylum in Europe.

Italy’s Mare Nostrum search-and-rescue operation ended this autumn after other EU members refused to help fund it.

Earlier this month the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, estimated that 3,419 migrants had died while attempting to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe since January 1

One of the dead was brought onto the navy’s Etna vessel by a merchant ship from Malta, while the other four were taken onto the Orione patrol boat from a Cypriot vessel

The scheme was responsible for bringing some 150,000 migrants to shore in its year of operation, but critics said it encouraged migrants to risk everything to get to Europe and made the job of people smugglers easier.

There were reports of traffickers steering ships into the middle of the ocean before abandoning them, leaving the passengers with just mobile or satellite phones and the contact number of the Italian coastguard, but it is not known how widespread this practice was.

Italy says Mare Nostrum, which was launched after two sinkings off the island of Lampedusa in October last year, leaving more than 400 dead, was costing nine million euros a month.

It has been replaced by an EU-run operation known as Triton whose mandate is limited to patrolling waters within 30 nautical miles of the coastline.

But organisations including Amnesty International and UNHCR have warned this will lead to more deaths.

They dispute the argument that rescue operations increase the ‘pull factor’ drawing migrants to Europe, and argue that the growing numbers and rising proportions of children, women and disabled people, reflect a surge in refugee numbers due to conflicts like Syria/Iraq.

WAJAALENEWS DESK