Italy's hardline interior minister Matteo Salvini said on Monday that he did not feel morally responsible for those die while fleeing poverty and conflict in their homelands, claiming his anti-migrant policies would continue to save "loads of human lives".
"I don't feel politically or morally responsible for the deaths of migrants who are escaping. My and the government's actions will save loads of human lives," he told journalists at the foreign press association in Rome.
"Every death is a defeat, but compared with last year, there have been far fewer deaths," Salvini said.
"I want to wipe human traffickers off the face of the earth," he said.
Since talking office in June, Salvini has closed Italy's ports to NGOs and other international rescue ships and the populist government has passed legislation that toughened Italy's immigration rules.