Ocean Viking ambulance ship rescues 438 migrants in the Mediterranean

Europe 1 with AFP // photo credit: Vincenzo Circosta / AFP 14:18 p.m., August 26, 2023

The Ocean Viking, an ambulance ship chartered by SOS Méditerranée, rescued in two days 438 migrants in distress in international waters off Libya and Tunisia, the Marseille-based humanitarian NGO said Friday. The NGO announced in the morning to have taken care Thursday "272 rescued people", who were on three boats, including "32 unaccompanied minors, nine babies and five people with disabilities", with "23 nationalities represented".

Later on Friday, SOS Méditerranée said it had recovered 166 more people after "assisting multiple boats in distress and evacuating survivors in coordination with the Italian coast guard in the search and rescue zone between Tunisia and Lampedusa". In total, "438 rescued people are currently on board," the NGO said, adding that its ship "is now on its way to Genoa (northern Italy), the remote safe port that has been assigned by the Italian authorities to disembark the rescued people."

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2,013 migrants missing in 2023

The Central Mediterranean is the world's most dangerous migration route, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The UN agency estimates that since the beginning of 2023, 2,013 migrants have disappeared against 1,417 over the whole of 2022. In June, a shipwreck described as one of the worst involving migrants in the Mediterranean killed at least 82 people, but in the eastern Mediterranean.

The Ocean Viking had been held for 10 days in July by the Italian authorities who blamed it for safety deficiencies, but it had been allowed to return to sea on July 21.