The Maritime Police announced yesterday that they had rescued 47 migrants on Friday who were on two boats in the Mediterranean Sea, off the island of Pantelleria in Italy.
The rescue, carried out by members of the Maritime Police on mission in Italy as part of the FRONTEX Agency’s Operation “THEMIS”, followed an alert received by the Local Coordinator Center in Palermo, reporting the existence of two boats with migrants on board.
In a statement, the Portuguese authority said that “members of the Maritime Police immediately went to the scene, where they intercepted the boats with a total of 47 people, including 26 men, three women and 18 minors, including three toddlers, who were not wearing life jackets”.
“For safety reasons,” the migrants were transported to the port of Pantelleria, where the Italian authorities and FRONTEX personnel were waiting for them, he adds.
Since June 2023, the Maritime Police say they have rescued 425 migrants as part of the FRONTEX Agency’s Joint Operation “THEMIS”, whose mission is to control and monitor the Italian and external maritime borders of the European Union in the fight against cross-border crime, as part of the European coastguard and police and criminal police functions.
Since 2017, when it began participating in Operation “THEMIS”, the Maritime Police has carried out more than 500 missions.
