Migrant boat crisis: 'Pregnant women, children thrown into water to force commercial ships to rescue them'

London: Pregnant women and children are reportedly being thrown into the sea by human smugglers in order to force merchant vessels to take the migrants ashore.

The women and children are left to drown as per a report in an international Daily.

A report in The Independent said that the action of the traffickers have been reported by the crews of commercial ships in the Mediterranean.

This is an attempt by the traffickers to offload their human cargo before reaching European ports, as they fear being arrested by authorities in Europe.

The Daily quoted a report by the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) to UN’s refugee agency which said that the traffickers were from Libya and were deliberately throwing the migrants in sight of merchant vessels.

It also said that the smugglers knew that merchant ships would be diverted by European coastguards and would have supplies and would be able to get the migrants to a port in Europe.

It added that when a ship’s response was not quick enough, the smugglers are known to push women and children into the water.

This is a way to get the merchant vehicles to respond urgently.

The report further said that many a times by the time the merchant vessels arrived, the would find a few survivors with the rest having died due to drowning.

As per reports, commercial vessels have helped in more than 1,000 migrant rescue operations.

Meanwhile, on May 26, EU's border agency said that it would expand its search and rescue operation in the Mediterranean to help cope with an upsurge in migrants trying to reach Europe, after UN chief Ban Ki-moon called on Europe to do more.

The Warsaw-based Frontex border agency said in a statement it would deploy three aircraft, six offshore patrol vessels, 12 patrol boats, two helicopters and 15 teams of experts to the Triton operation off southern Italy during the peak summer season and also expand its operational area, as per AFP.

The move constitutes a doubling or tripling of resources deployed up till now and comes a month after EU leaders agreed to increase the operation's monthly funding from 3 million euros (USD 3.3 million) to 9 million euros.

The expansion would "support the Italian authorities in controlling its sea borders and in saving lives, too many of which have already been tragically lost this year," Frontex chief Fabrice Leggeri had said in the statement.

Earlier, Ban had told reporters that Europe could “provide more help" and had called for search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean to be "further strengthened".

So far this year, some 1,770 migrants have perished on the hazardous journey to Europe, according to the International Organisation for Migration, representing a 30-fold increase over the same period in 2014.

EU ministers have approved plans for a military operation to fight Mediterranean people smugglers, although proposals to destroy traffickers' boats in Libyan waters still need UN approval.

The European Commission had also unveiled plans to make the rest of the 28-nation EU share the burden of frontline states such as Italy, Greece and Malta, although some countries like Britain are opposed.

(With Agency inputs)