Two new large-scale rescue operations for the Ocean Viking.
The rescue ship at sea chartered by SOS Méditerranée in partnership with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), has rescued 131 migrants over the past two days who were trying to reach Europe by Mediterranean Sea.
This Wednesday, the ship rescued a "pneumatic boat in distress" in the middle of "waves of more than two meters", in which there were "59 people in imminent danger of death", indicated the NGO.
The first rescue, described as "testing" by SOS Méditerranée, took place overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday off the coast of Libya.
The 72 people rescued, including women and children, were on "a distressed inflatable, in total darkness, amid three-meter waves" and "were found without life jackets", the NGO said. , headquartered in Marseilles.
"All the survivors were exhausted" and one man "collapsed during the evacuation", according to SOS Méditerranée.
One of the survivors is a 1-year-old baby
On Sunday and Monday, the humanitarian ship had already carried out two rescues, rescuing 70 and 94 migrants respectively, bringing to 295 the number of survivors cared for on board the Ocean Viking, including 132 unaccompanied minors.
“The youngest of the survivors is a one-year-old baby,” the NGO said.
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 at least 24,000 people have died or disappeared there since 2014, including 2,048 last year.
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