Italy said Friday it will close a sea rescue mission that has saved the lives of more than 100,000 migrants from Africa and the Middle East, a move one rights group warned could lead to a "surge of deaths" in the Mediterranean.
Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said the Mare Nostrum (Our Sea) mission will end to make way for a smaller European Union scheme — and to help relieve the strain on Italy's public finances amid a three-year economic slump.
"Mare Nostrum is closing down because it was an emergency operation," Alfano told a news conference.