Stories of migrant tragedies happening daily in the Mediterranean Sea are dominating newspapers and the Internet. The issue has become the latest European crisis. From the North African coast to southern coast of Italy and Greece, reports of capsized boats carrying migrants mainly from the African continent are coming across news media daily. So far in 2015 more than 1,500 would be migrants lost their lives in the Mediterranean Sea. According to the International Organization for Migrants, a total of 3,072 would be migrants lost their lives in 2014 in the Mediterranean Sea. The same for 2013 is 700. Since 2000, the total lives lost at the Mediterranean Sea are estimated at 22,000.
Most of the migrants are fleeing the conflict zones and poverty in Africa and are trying to reach Europe. Worst hit countries of migrants are Italy and Greece due to their proximities to the African continent. Unfortunately both countries are dealing with their own deep economic problems and the European Union (EU) is slow to respond to the crisis. EU response is limited to coastal border control known as Triton and it lacks search and rescue missions and funding. Some including the Pope are calling the EU to do more to address the crisis.