Viking Ocean: 73 migrants rescued during a third operation on Sunday in the Mediterranean

The Ocean Viking, the humanitarian ship of SOS Méditerranée, collected 73 migrants on Sunday evening July 24 during a third rescue operation carried out during the day in the Mediterranean bringing the total number of people rescued to 268, the NGO said. in a press release.

Among these 268 survivors were more than 100 unaccompanied minors, the youngest being a one-year-old baby, the same source said.

The third intervention of the humanitarian ship took place at the end of the day following an alert from "

", an emergency number to help migrants stranded at sea. The Ocean Viking rescued 73 people, including the one-year-old baby, who were on an inflatable boat in poor condition and already partially deflated 37 nautical miles from the Libyan coast.

During the day, the ship had already carried out two operations to rescue 195 people.

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In May, during its last mission in the central Mediterranean, the Ocean Viking had rescued some 300 people, but had to wait ten days before being designated a safe port, in Sicily, to disembark them.

Since the beginning of the year, 990 migrants have disappeared in the Mediterranean, including 828 in the central Mediterranean, the most dangerous route in the world, according to the International Organization for Migration.

The UN agency estimated the number of dead and missing in 2021 at 2048 in the Mediterranean, including 1553 for the central Mediterranean alone.

Every year, thousands of people fleeing conflict or poverty try to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean from Libya, whose coasts are some 300 km from Italy.