New rescue in the Mediterranean.
The Ocean Viking, a humanitarian ship from SOS Méditerranée, rescued 159 migrants on Thursday during two new operations "in waves of two meters" between Libya and Malta.
An operation that brings the number of survivors on board to 212, the NGO said in a statement on Friday.
The first rescue operation, carried out Thursday at the end of the day, made it possible to evacuate 40 people "from a first overloaded wooden boat, threatening to capsize", according to the NGO whose headquarters are in Marseille.
The Ocean Viking then rescued, assisted by the Astral, the sailboat of the NGO Open Arms, 119 people "from another unstable and overcrowded wooden boat", adds SOS Méditerranée.
"The survivors had spent 24 hours at sea and were showing signs of seasickness and exhaustion," she said.
The two rescues "took place in international waters, in the Maltese search and rescue zone" but the two boats "had left Libya", a spokesperson for the NGO told AFP.
@SOSMedIntl then rescued another 119 people.
of an unstable and overcrowded wooden boat, assisted by the #Astral.
The survivors spent 24 hours at sea and show signs of seasickness and exhaustion.
The @SOSMedIntl and @IFRC teams are now caring for 212 survivors.
pic.twitter.com/WyJcWnH2TV
— SOS MEDITERRANEE France (@SOSMedFrance) August 25, 2022
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These two new operations come after two previous rescues carried out by the Ocean Viking between Wednesday and Thursday off the Libyan coast, during which 41 and then 12 survivors were respectively rescued.
Some 1,161 migrants missing in the Mediterranean
These four rescues bring the total number of people assisted by SOS Méditerranée and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies on the Viking Ocean to 212, including 22 minors.
Of these, 19 are unaccompanied, according to a spokesperson for the NGO.
Since the beginning of the year, 1,161 migrants have disappeared in the Mediterranean, including 918 in the central Mediterranean, the most dangerous migratory route in the world, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The UN agency estimated the number of dead and missing in 2021 at 2,048 in the Mediterranean, including 1,553 for the central Mediterranean alone.
Every year, thousands of people fleeing conflict or poverty attempt to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean from Libya, whose coasts are some 300 km from Italy.
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