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700 migrants feared dead in Mediterranean shipwreck

“These latest deaths at sea come as a shock, but not a surprise.”

Amnesty is among NGOs calling for the restoration of an Italian navy search-and-rescue operation known as Mare Nostrum which was suspended at the end of last year.

Italy scaled back the mission after failing to persuade its European partners to help meet its operating costs of nine million euros ($9.7 million) a month amid divisions over whether the mission was unintentionally encouraging migrants to attempt the crossing.

Mare Nostrum has been partially replaced by a much smaller EU-run operation called Triton which has a fraction of the assets and specialist manpower previously deployed by Italy.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi was expected to make a statement on the tragedy later Sunday following an emergency meeting with ministers involved in managing the migrant crisis.

The migrants seeking to reach Europe with the help of people smugglers are generally fleeing conflict or persecution in places such as Eritrea, Afghanistan and Syria, or poverty and hunger in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

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