Thousands of migrants attempt crossing the Mediterranean every year, and some of them are saved from drowning by the Frontex operation. But that is not its mission.

Border controls: Triton - between expectations and reality

The Mediterranean  is turning into a cemetery again.

The weather being fine,  thousands of irregular migrants

The number of shipwrecks multiplies.  What will be Europe’s response?

He knocked on the door with his friends,  all holding guns. We went to the sea.

There are 320 people crammed into  this boat in distress in the Mediterranean.

They're Syrians,  Malians and Mauritanians,

all trying to reach Europe's shores  like thousands of others.

He's spent five days in this reception centre  for migrants in Pozzallo in Sicily, Italy.

I sleep down below.  I'm there with my friend Abdelrahman.

Their journey is often  long and difficult.

before people smugglers  sent him to Europe.

We were taken in a small boat  to a bigger one.

People kept coming in groups of 20,  300 people,

So we are begging. We are pleading.  We need help. Please.

The sea is not good.  The journey is not easy.

It's 50-50.  Either you make it or you die.

An Icelandic coastguard ship  came to their aid.

a surveillance mission in Italian waters  set up by Frontex,

the EU's external border control agency.

Six boats, two aeroplanes and a helicopter  are involved in the operation.

We took 320 migrants  30 miles north of Libya.

People had not been sleeping very much  for a long time.

How many migrants  can you have here on board?

I think this is the maximum.  We took 320.

it's impossible to say,  'You are not coming aboard.'

She travelled to Pozzallo  to assess the operation.

but its mandate is clear:  to control the borders.

Its ships stay within 30 miles  of the coast.

happen beyond the 30-mile limit,  much further away.

Of course  the operation can't disregard

Operation Triton covers  the territorial waters of Italy

which are the search-and-rescue waters  of Italy and Malta.

So while our primary focus  is border control,

basically patrolling  the Mediterranean,

obviously search and rescue is an  international obligation that we have to fulfil.

Carmen, a lawyer, has been defending  immigrants' rights for 30 years.

She is appealing  for Triton's mandate to change.

The maritime interception regulation  concerning Frontex,

And so the way this new regulation  has been structured

makes it clear that Frontex's mandate  isn't to rescue people,

an Italian military operation  launched in 2013

but withdrawn in 2014  because of its cost,

9 million euros per month  compared to 2.9 million for Triton.

Mare Nostrum's ships  went further out to the sea.

Their responsibilities were different  from those of the Triton ships.

because we hardly heard any news  about people dying.

In 2014 over 167,000 migrants  reached the Italian coast.

The EU's Operation Triton managed  to save one third of these migrants.