The SOS Méditerranée ambulance ship rescued 135 new migrants on Thursday evening aboard an
“overloaded boat”
, the NGO announced on Friday, the day after the announcement of the disappearance at sea of around sixty people who were trying crossing the Mediterranean.
“Yesterday (Thursday) evening, the Ocean Viking rescued 135 people from an overloaded double-deck boat, including a pregnant woman and eight children, in the Maltese search and rescue zone,”
the company said. NGO based in Marseille.
In total since Wednesday, the Ocean Viking has collected 361 migrants at sea during four separate rescues.
Two unconscious people were urgently evacuated by helicopter by the Italian coast guard on Wednesday,
"one of whom unfortunately died in hospital"
, added the NGO.
There are therefore 359 survivors on board the SOS Méditerranée ship, which is currently heading towards the port of Ancona, on the Italian Adriatic coast, nearly 1,500 kilometers from the rescue sites, designated a
“safe disembarkation place”
by the Italian authorities.
“Such a long navigation time should not be imposed on people rescued at sea
,” the NGO protested once again on Friday.
“No more state means of relief in the Mediterranean Sea”
Italy, on the front line facing the crossings of migrants seeking to reach Europe, very often designates disembarkation ports very far from the rescue sites, extending navigation times, denounce the NGOs.
“There are a lot of crossings and the rescue ships are hampered.
There are no longer any state means of relief in the Mediterranean Sea.
And the direct consequence of this situation is thousands of deaths each year, avoidable deaths
,” lamented Thursday evening to AFP the general director of SOS Méditerranée Sophie Beau.
According to the testimonies of people recovered during the first rescue carried out by the Ocean Viking teams,
“at least 60 people”
on board their boat, which left from Zawiya in Libya, had disappeared at sea since their departure from the Libyan coast.
The boat left Zawiya on March 8 and the engine broke down after three days, leaving the migrants adrift, without water or food for days, according to testimonies collected by SOS Méditerranée.