The Ocean Viking, an ambulance ship chartered by SOS Méditerranée, rescued 110 people during the night from Monday to Tuesday, including more than thirty unaccompanied minors, who were in an “overloaded
inflatable boat”
off the coast of Libya, said the NGO in a press release.
Dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean
“The boat in distress was first reported via Alarm Phone (a number used by migrants encountering difficulties when crossing the Mediterranean). The crew of
the Ocean Viking
then managed to spot in the darkness the overloaded inflatable boat, whose rear was weakened, with the 110 terrified people on board
,” specifies SOS Méditerranée.
Among the people rescued during this
“complicated”
operation are 11 women, two of whom are pregnant, a one-year-old baby and more than thirty unaccompanied minors, according to the Marseille-based NGO, which adds that
“these people are for the mostly from Ethiopia and Eritrea.”
SOS Méditerranée has rescued more than 39,000 people in the Mediterranean since 2016, mainly in the central Mediterranean, the most dangerous migratory route in the world.
In 2023, 3,041 migrants were reported missing after trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Since January, 110 migrants have been missing, according to the same source.