The Ocean Viking, ambulance ship of the humanitarian NGO SOS Méditerranée, rescued 37 migrants adrift off Libya on Saturday, migrants that it will disembark in Ancona, the port on the Adriatic coast assigned to it by Italy, the NGO said.
On Saturday morning, "
the Ocean Viking rescued 37 people
" on board "
a small overloaded pneumatic boat in international waters off Libya
", the NGO explained in a press release, specifying to AFP that the ship then proceeded to Ancona, the safe port assigned to it by the Italian authorities.
Read alsoAssociations, housing, lawyers … How public money finances illegal immigration
"
The port is 1,575 km from the area of operation, i.e. four days of navigation
", regretted SOS Méditerranée, worried about the survivors while "
the weather forecasts are deteriorating from Sunday evening
", exposing them to "
strong winds and rough seas
”.
Some of the migrants are already suffering from "
fuel poisoning and burns
" suffered on board the boat where they were crammed before being rescued.
Among the 37 people, two are women and 12 are unaccompanied minors.
At the end of December, after having rescued 113 migrants on board an overloaded inflatable boat in international waters dependent on the Maltese search and rescue zone, close to the Libyan zone, the Ocean Viking had been assigned the safe port of Ravenna, already on the Italian Adriatic coast, but further north.
