Albania’s Defense Ministry has extended for a year its Navy’s participation in the search-and-rescue operations of the EU’s border control force, Frontex. Defense Minister Olta Xhacka on Wednesday said the mission of a warship, mainly in the Aegean Sea, will continue in 2019, AP reports. Albanian sailors have “saved thousands of human lives from being sunk in the sea” during the last two years when refugees have tried to cross from Turkey to Greece, Xhacka said. A NATO member since 2009, Albania has taken part for the first time in the western military alliance’s maritime missions.