(Recast)Roundup: New migrant deaths spark criticism over search-and-rescue budget cut in Italy

Disdain hit the headlines in Italy on Tuesday, a day after 29 migrants from North African and Middle Eastern countries died of cold while attempting the Mediterranean crossing to Italy.

The victims were part of a group of 106 migrants found aboard three inflatable boats which got into trouble amid winter storms off the Lampedusa island, Italy's southernmost point, between Libya and Sicily.

Two guard ships reached the boats after the coastal guard received an alarm call from a satellite phone. But with temperatures barely above zero and waves as high as eight meters, the death toll after hours of rescue efforts was high.

"I am speaking as a doctor and not as an expert of international relations, but with Mare Nostrum these guys very probably would be alive," Lampedusa's chief healthcare official Pietro Bartolo was quoted as saying by a local newspaper.

Mare Nostrum was the search-and-rescue operation started by the Italian government after more than 360 migrants drowned within sight of Lampedusa in October 2013.

After saving more than 150,000 migrants, Mare Nostrum was replaced last November by a smaller operation called Triton of the European Union (EU) Frontex border patrol agency.

"Mare Nostrum was a humanitarian operation, while Triton is a border control operation," Lampedusa Mayor Giusi Nicolini was quoted by la Repubblica newspaper as saying.

She explained that the guard ships in the new Triton operations are not equipped with the medical facilities and doctors that are necessary for first aid.

When Mare Nostrum was suspended amid complaints for its high cost, which stood at more than 9 million euros (over 10 million U.S. dollars) every month, human rights groups voiced concern that stopping the operation would endanger many lives.

"Horror off Lampedusa. People did not die in a shipwreck but from the cold; these are the consequences of the end of Mare Nostrum," Lower House Speaker Laura Boldrini said in a social network comment on the first major maritime loss of life this year off the coast of Italy.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on Tuesday called for stepping up search and rescue capacity.

"The UNHCR is both deeply saddened by this news, and concerned about the manner of the deaths, all but seven of which appeared to have occurred on board the rescue vessel," spokesman Adrian Edwards was quoted as saying in a statement posted on the UNHCR website.

Edwards said that the number of refugees and migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean on smugglers' boats in the first few weeks of 2015 was "significantly higher" compared to the same period in 2014.

In January as many as 3,528 arrivals were reported in Italy, compared to 2,171 in the same of month of 2014.

Including the lives lost on Monday, 50 deaths have been recorded compared to 12 by the same period of last year.

More than 218,000 people crossed the Mediterranean by irregular routes in 2014 and about 3,500 lost their lives in the attempt, according to the UNHCR. Endi