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Warships And Choppers For Migrant Rescues

European Union leaders have agreed to triple funds for operations in the Mediterranean aimed at saving the lives of people fleeing their home countries.

As part of the deal, Britain will send the warship HMS Bulwark , three Merlin helicopters and two patrol boats to boost search-and-rescue missions.

EU chiefs also want to push for a UN resolution that would allow them to destroy vessels used by traffickers before they attempt to smuggle migrants across the water.

The agreement follows an emergency Brussels summit after at least 800 migrants on a boat drowned when it capsized off the Libyan coast last weekend.

David Cameron said: "What's emerging is what we need which is a comprehensive plan, going after the criminal gangs, going after the traffickers, going after the owners of the boats.

"Potentially taking action there as well and stabilising the countries from which these people are coming."

Around 1,800 migrants have died this year trying to make the journey from North Africa to Europe in search of a better life as they flee conflict and poverty.

This compared with fewer than 100 killed during the same time last year, and there are fears 30,000 could die in 2015 .

The rise in funding - higher than expected - to nine million euros (£6.4m) a month is an acknowledgment by the European leaders that it was a mistake to sanction such a dramatic scaling down of search and rescue in the Med last year.

The EU decided to end the Italian navy's Mare Nostrum - in which 27,000 square miles of sea was scoured for migrant boats.

Instead it set up Operation Triton at a third of the cost, which was limited to 30 miles off the Italian Coast and primarily a policing operation.

Although some of the funds will bolster those efforts, there was a clear move to re-establish efforts to seek out search and rescue.

Germany and France have pledged two ships while other member states have also lined up more vessels and helicopters as Triton doubles in size.

:: See the scale of recent Mediterranean boat disasters

The 19,500-ton assault ship HMS Bulwark will arrive in the region within a week and rescue hundreds of people at once.

The helicopters have sophisticated radars that can spot small vessels up to 100 miles away.

Mr Cameron said that was the right thing to do but insisted that anyone picked up would be taken to Italy and not be welcome in Britain.

The tough stance on asylum is partly as a result of the General Election with UKIP continuing to pose a threat to the Prime Minister with two weeks to go.

Advisers said Mr Cameron believed Britain already took on its fair share of asylum seekers.

He argued for a "comprehensive" approach to the tragic situation in the Med - which was not wholly focused on search and rescue.

Instead, he argued that focusing on traffickers and international aid as well as helping to stabilise Libya were key.

Sources at Frontex, the EU's border, agency said the abuse of migrants by traffickers was shocking - not just in dangerous, overcrowded boats but during land journeys as well.

There were just 28 survivors from Sunday's boat disaster.

Tunisian skipper Mohammed Ali Malek, 27, and Syrian crew member Mahmud Bikhit, 25, were arrested following the catastrophe and are due to appear before a judge today.

Prosecutors have accused Malek of inadvertently ramming the overloaded fishing boat into a Portuguese-flagged cargo ship that had come to its rescue, destabilising it.

Malek and Bikhit faces charges of illegal confinement, culpable homicide, and aiding illegal immigration.

An interfaith funeral has been held in Malta for 24 victims, the only ones whose bodies have been recovered so far from the boat where many were believed to have been locked below deck.