Some 223 migrants, including pregnant women and children, rescued in the Mediterranean in recent hours were on Sunday on board the humanitarian ship "Ocean Viking" waiting for a safe port to disembark, according to the Italian press.
The migrants were rescued by the humanitarian ship, chartered by SOS Mediterranean in partnership with Doctors Without Borders (MSF), during several operations off Libya, according to media reports. The most recent rescue took place on the night of Saturday to Sunday in the Malta Rescue and Research Area (SAR) where 72 migrants were on board an overcrowded boat.
1,283 deaths recorded in the Mediterranean in 2019
Since the summer of 2018, succeeding Italy which previously assumed this role, the Libyan coast guards are responsible by Europe for coordinating rescues in a vast "search and rescue zone" beyond their territorial waters. A mission that Libya, at war, is unable to carry out, denounces SOS Mediterranean.
In 2019, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) recorded 1,283 known deaths in the Mediterranean, the central route between North Africa and Italy being the most deadly. At least 19,164 migrants have perished in the waves in the past five years.
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