FILES-ITALY-EUROPE-MIGRANT

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY FANNY CARRIER
(FILES) This file photo taken on May 25, 2016 shows members of French NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) and SOS Mediterranee distributing food to migrants and refugees aboard the rescue ship “Aquarius”, a day after a rescue operation off the Libyan coast.
Two years ago, a small, privately-run ship set out to lend a hand to military operations rescuing boat migrants off Libya. Today, there are a dozen such aid ships engaged in over 20 percent of life-saving missions. The first step was made by Christopher and Regina Catrambone, a wealthy Italian-American couple based in Malta aghast at the shipwreck off the island of Lampedusa in October 2013 which left over 365 people dead.
/ AFP PHOTO / GABRIEL BOUYS