Migrants Die of Hypothermia aboard Italian Rescue Boats

zoom At least 29 migrants died from the effects of hypothermia after the Italian Coast Guard transferred them to their vessels from an inflatable boat near Libya, Reuters reports. The Coast Guard sent out two patrol boats on Sunday to aid over one hundred migrants adrift some 160 kilometres off the Italian coast, surrounded by 8 metre waves and exposed to temperatures little above freezing.  The migrants used a satellite phone to issue a distress call. The Mayor of the Italian island of Lampedusa Giusi Nicolini told Reuters that the migrants spent around eighteen hours aboard the patrol boats exposed to high winds and splashing water. The number of dead might still rise, Nicolini said. One of the migrants was airlifted to hospital in critical condition, and the second patrol boat has not arrived to the port. Nicolini blamed the termination of the Mare Nostrum project for the deaths. The project ban disallowed Italys Navy ships from participating in search-and-rescue missions and from keeping large numbers of migrants on board. The small patrol boats were completely swallowed by the waves during the trip back. If Mare Nostrum were still going, the migrants would have been given shelter inside a large ship within an hour, Nicolini told Reuters. World Maritime News Staff