MOSCOW (Sputnik) – According to the Italian il Giornale newspaper, two aircraft, provided by Luxembourg and Spain arrived at the scene shortly after the accident, followed by two Italian maritime border patrol vessels. The two aircraft were reportedly deployed as part of the European Union's Sophia anti-migrant operation.
Over 80 people were saved by the crews participating in the operation, the paper reported.
The Operation Sophia was launched in June 2015 in response to the migration crisis in Europe as hundreds of thousands of refugees fled from the Middle East and Northern Africa to EU countries. Human traffickers and terrorist organizations have reportedly been capitalizing on people's desperation to reach the bloc.
