Denmark Vows to Contribute to Migrant Rescues in Mediterranean Sea

According to countries Prime minister, Denmark will increase its contribution to the Triton search and rescue program by supporting an EU 10-point action plan to counter the rising number of migrant deaths in the Mediterranean.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Denmark will increase its contribution to the Triton search and rescue program by supporting an EU 10-point action plan to counter the rising number of migrant deaths in the Mediterranean, the country's prime minister said Thursday.

"I expect that today [the EU] will increase contributions to the Triton operation so we can save more lives, and Denmark will also contribute to that," Helle Thorning-Schmidt was quoted as saying by The Local.

Thorning-Schmidt clarified that Denmark did not intend to take in additional refugees despite high numbers of asylum applicants.

"Denmark is out of the shared asylum policies and we will not contribute to a different distribution [of refugees]. Overall, I don't think there is much appetite for that. It would mean that some countries would take in considerably more refugees than they do today," she said.

The announcement was made prior to a Thursday emergency meeting in Brussels of EU leaders. The summit comes in the wake of a deadly Sunday shipwreck in the Mediterranean in which a boat reportedly carrying between 800-900 Italy–bound migrants capsized while heading from Libya to Italy. Only 28 were rescued from the wreck.

Following the tragedy, EU foreign and interior ministers worked out a 10-point action plan on migration. The plan would reinforce the European border agency Frontex Triton rescue operation in the Mediterranean Sea with an increased budget, more assets and an extended area of scope.

Currently, Triton only patrols within 30 miles of the Italian coast, That distance is considered insufficient, according to the UN Refugee Agency.