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People seeking protection from Syria and Libya after being rescued by the Spanish NGO »Open Arms«
Photo: Francisco Seco/AP
The sea route from Libya across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe is one of the most dangerous escape routes for those seeking protection - yet people often venture out onto the open sea in boats, some of which are unsuitable.
The Italian Coast Guard and volunteer sea rescuers have now saved several hundred people.
According to media reports, Italy's coast guard brought around 450 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean to the port of the southern Italian city of Catanzaro, on the sole of the Italian boot.
On land, they were initially accommodated in a sports center, where they had to take a corona test.
Meanwhile, the Spanish aid organization Open Arms with its new ship "Open Arms Uno" and around 100 rescued migrants on board is still waiting for a safe haven to be assigned, as a spokeswoman confirmed in the morning when asked.
In the central Mediterranean, the private aid organization SOS Méditerranée also rescued a little more than 40 people from a wooden boat that was already getting water on Thursday night and brought them on board the "Ocean Viking", as the organization wrote on Twitter in the morning.
The day before, the crew reported four empty boats floating on the water in the Libyan search and rescue zone.
What happened to the people is unclear.
The Libyan coast guard keeps bringing migrant boats on board in the Mediterranean Sea and bringing them back to the civil war country, from where most people left to get to the EU by sea.
The civilian sea rescuers criticize this because the people in Libya are threatened with violence and exploitation.
Since 2014, the International Organization for Migration has counted more than 24,000 people who went missing trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea.
There are escape routes in the Mediterranean Sea in the west towards Spain, in the east through the Aegean Sea and in the middle from Libya towards Italy - there, with almost 20,000 people, the vast majority of those seeking protection were reported missing.
In the year 2022 so far, 1161 people seeking protection have already been drowned or missing.
mrc/dpa