The “Ocean Viking” waits for a port to disembark 466 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean
In less than three days, the NGO SOS Méditerranée rescued 466 migrants of 19 nationalities.
Here, August 27, 2022. AP - Jeremias Gonzalez
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
The SOS Méditerranée humanitarian ship, which has carried out ten rescue operations since Wednesday, was awaiting this Sunday, August 28, the allocation of "a safe port" to disembark the 466 rescued migrants.
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“
At this time, the Ocean Viking awaits the allocation of a safe port of disembarkation for the 466 people on board.
Many of them are exhausted by a long and difficult migratory journey, the suffering endured in Libya and the trauma of a dangerous crossing
,” the NGO SOS Méditerranée wrote on Sunday in a statement to Agence France-Presse.
“
Some stayed up to three days in the open sea under a blazing sun, with a boat that threatened to sink at any moment
”, specifies Fabienne Lassalle, the deputy director general of SOS Méditerranée, to RFI.
The 466 migrants, of 19 nationalities, were rescued during ten rescue operations carried out in less than three days.
They are mostly from Bangladesh, Egypt, Tunisia, Eritrea.
Among them are 21 women, some of them pregnant, as well as 81 minors, many unaccompanied.
The youngest survivor is just three weeks old.
1,161 missing since the beginning of the year
The situation on the deck of the ambulance ship "
is currently calm
", further detailed the NGO which takes care of the survivors on board with the help of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent.
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.
“
Since 2018, states have disengaged from this area.
Today, it is mainly humanitarian and sometimes commercial ships that carry out the rescues
”, criticizes Fabienne Lassalle.
In addition to this disengagement of the States in the rescue operations, the NGO is struggling to find safe ports where the survivors can disembark quickly, as provided for by the law of the sea. “
Today, we have to wait several days and reiterate our requests to find a safe harbor.
Which is very difficult for people who have already been through hell
,” notes the deputy director of SOS Méditerranée.
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.
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