At least one person drowned [8] March 2 after a group jumped overboard from a migrant boat as the EU-supported Libyan coast guard [9] fired shots into the water to stop an NGO vessel from carrying out a rescue operation. The rescue vessel Humanity 1 was subsequently seized and ordered detained [10] for 20 days by Italy—over the protests [11] of the German non-governmental organization that operates it, SOS Humanity [12]. Italian authorities invoked the Piantedosi Decree [13], a new legal provision that imposes a stricter set of requirements for charities that rescue migrants at sea, with potential penalties of stiff fines and impoundment of ships. The Humanity 1 is currently being held at Crotone, a port in Italy's southern region of Calabria [14].
Last year, at least 8,500 [17] people died on land and sea migration routes around the world, making it the deadliest year since the UN's migration agency, IOM, began keeping track in 2014. This is widely considered an undercount, with many deaths going unrecorded or unconfirmed. The Mediterranean Sea remained the deadliest migration route in the world, with over 3,120 [18] recorded fatalities, bringing the total since 2014 to over 29,000 [18]. (TNH [19], Jurist [20])
