In the last two weeks, some 350 people dreaming of a better life in Europe have lost their lives in the central Mediterranean.
As compared with 2012, the number of illegal immigrants trying to reach European shores via Italian waters has nearly quadrupled this year. By the end of September, nearly 30,000 had embarked on the perilous sea journey.
“That’s a staggering number,” says Ilkka Laitinen, a Finn who heads the European Union border security agency Frontex in Warsaw.
Frontex has pushed for better patrolling of the Mediterranean in order to detect the immigrant vessels before they get into trouble.
Finland to chip in
Now the Interior Ministry’s Border Guard Department is preparing to help Frontex. According to deputy chief of the Department Arto Niemenkari, officials are currently calculating the costs of helping Italy and Frontex to save illegal aliens.
Niemenkari says that Finland could send a Dornier aircraft to the region for a month or two, as well as contributing one or two fast patrol boats. The Border Guard official also reveals that training sea rescue personnel has been discussed with Frontex.
“It’s quite expensive to send equipment to the Mediterranean. If Frontex gets more funding, we’ll be realistically able to come up with this kind of package,” Niemenkari noted.
According to the officials' plan, some twenty Finns would take part in the Mediterranean mission.