Forty-seven migrants adrift in the Mediterranean were rescued Tuesday south of the Italian island of Lampedusa by the Ocean Viking, found on board an AFP journalist, bringing to more than 160 the number of people gathered by the humanitarian ship in five days.
Read also: Migrants: the Ocean Viking resumes its rescue in the Mediterranean after three months of stoppage
As in the two operations carried out by the SOS Mediterranean ambulance boat last Thursday, these 47 people were crammed into a wooden boat fitted out by hand with a motor.
They were rescued " 30 nautical miles (about 55 kilometers) south of Lampedusa in international waters under Maltese responsibility ", stressed to AFP SOS Mediterranean, which charters the boat. They are mainly nationals of Bangladesh, South Sudan, Pakistan or Ghana, according to the NGO.
According to initial evidence gathered by AFP, these migrants fleeing Libya spent three days and three nights at sea, before the intervention of the Norwegian flagged vessel.
Last Thursday, in the wake of the resumption of its activities after three months of stoppage linked to the health crisis, the Ocean Viking had assisted 118 migrants also fleeing Libya in two boats. During the night of Monday to Tuesday, one of them, who had been immediately placed in quarantine in the context of the Covid-19 disease, underwent a medical evacuation on board an Italian coast guard ship .
