LKS 20230616 (FILES) This handout photo taken on November 3, 2022 and released on November 5, 2022 by German-flagged NGO Mission Lifeline shows migrants preparing to get on board the "Rise Above" rescue ship after being rescued off the coast of Sicily, southern Italy. The number of migrant crossings through the central Mediterranean to the European Union "more than doubled" in 2023 compared to the same period last year, the EU's Frontex agency said on June 16, 2023. In the first five months of this year, EU countries detected over 50,300 irregular entries through that route, "the highest number recorded since 2017," the agency said in a statement. LEHTIKUVA / AFP, AFP / LEHTIKUVA / SEVERINE KPOTI