55 migrants, including women and children, rescued off Libya

2023-08-11 17:02:36

While trying to reach Europe on a fiberglass boat, 55 migrants in distress were rescued Thursday morning off the coast of Libya by the Ocean Viking, the ambulance ship chartered by SOS Méditerranée. “People left Sabratah in Libya overnight,” the Marseille-based humanitarian NGO said in a statement.

“Five women and twelve unaccompanied minors” are among those cared for by the teams of SOS Méditerranée and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent on board the Ocean Viking. On Wednesday, the rescue teams had also “attended the interception of a boat carrying around twenty people by the Libyan coast guard”, adds the NGO.

Witnesses yesterday to the interception by the Libyan coast guard of 1 boat with around 20 people, we have just rescued 55 people, including 5 women and 12 unaccompanied minors, from 1 overloaded fiberglass boat unsuitable for navigation, spotted with binoculars. pic.twitter.com/Qh6nx0FHJ7

— SOS MEDITERRANEE France (@SOSMedFrance) August 10, 2023

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The most dangerous migration route in the world

The central Mediterranean is the most dangerous migration route in the world, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The UN agency estimates that since the beginning of 2023, 1,848 migrants have disappeared there, compared to 1,417 throughout 2022.

In June, a shipwreck presented as one of the most serious involving migrants in the Mediterranean, left at least 82 dead, but in the eastern Mediterranean. The Ocean Viking had been held for ten days in July by the Italian authorities who blamed it for security failures, but it had been authorized to return to sea on July 21.