L’Ocean-Viking, a humanitarian ship belonging to the non-governmental organization (NGO) SOS Méditerranée, rescued 113 people in the Mediterranean Sea for its first operation since docking in France in November, after a diplomatic showdown between Paris and Rome. Among them, “23 women, some of whom are pregnant, around 30 unaccompanied minors and three babies, the youngest of whom is only three weeks old”said Tuesday, December 27 in a press release the NGO, whose headquarters is located in Marseille.
????BREAKING – Last night the #OceanViking evacuated 113 people from an overloaded black inflatable boat,… https://t.co/Yxe0fcUnbu
The migrants were rescued overnight from Monday to Tuesday, in international waters dependent on the Libyan search and rescue zone. They were on “an overloaded black inflatable boat, in total darkness”, explains SOS Méditerranée. They were cared for on board the ship by members of the NGO as well as the Red Cross and Red Crescent.
For now, theOcean-Viking “keep patrolling” et ” It is still too early “ to find out where he can land the rescued people, reported to Agence France-Presse Méryl Sotty, spokesperson for SOS Méditerranée.
Three weeks of wandering this fall
A la mi-november, theOcean-Viking had landed in Toulon, in the south-east of France, with 230 rescued migrants between Libya and Italy, after three weeks of wandering in search of a safe port. The French government had agreed to host, ” exceptionally “the ship after Italy refused to do so, a decision that caused diplomatic tensions between the two countries.
Placed in a “waiting area” closed, most of the survivors had been released either by court order, or because they were unaccompanied minors, or because they had been granted asylum in France.
Since the beginning of the year, 1,998 migrants have disappeared in the Mediterranean, including 1,369 in the central Mediterranean, the most dangerous migratory route in the world, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Every year, thousands of people fleeing conflict or poverty try to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean from Libya, whose coasts are some 300 kilometers from Italy.