More than 1,300 people are currently in difficulty in the Mediterranean. The Ocean Viking, the humanitarian ship of the NGO SOS Méditerranée, carried out two new rescues on Wednesday, bringing the number of survivors on board to 234, the NGO announced on Wednesday.
According to the NGO Alarm Phone, 1,300 people are currently in difficulty in the Mediterranean.
?! ~700 people in distress!!
We were alerted by a large wooden boat that left #Tobruk, #Libyaand is now in the SAR zones of #Malta and #Italy. Communication is difficult but we believe we heard they were 700 people on board! We urge authorities: launch a rescue operation!! pic.twitter.com/oqXN5zXjTL
— Alarm Phone (@alarm_phone) October 25, 2022
Overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, 56 people were rescued from an overcrowded wooden boat in international waters off the Italian island of Lampedusa. And on Wednesday, 32 others were sheltered off Malta, details on Twitter SOS Méditerranée, headquartered in Marseille (south-eastern France).
These two new rescues, after four previous operations since last weekend, bring to 234 the total number of survivors cared for on board the Ocean Viking by the teams of SOS Méditerranée and the International Federation of Societies of the Cross. -Red and Red Crescent (IFRC).
Italy wants to block the arrival of migrants
Since the beginning of the year, 1,762 migrants have disappeared in the Mediterranean, including 1,295 in the central Mediterranean, the most dangerous migratory route in the world, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The UN agency estimated the number of dead and missing in 2021 at 2,062 in the Mediterranean, including 1,567 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.
The new Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Melonileader of the neo-fascist party Fratelli d’Italia, pledged on Tuesday to block the arrival of migrants from Africa. His new interior minister, Matteo Piantedosi, has said he could stop NGO ships, and rescued migrants on board, from reaching Italy, reviving a controversial policy started in 2019 by Matteo Salvini, leader of the League and Deputy Prime Minister in the Meloni government.
( With AFP)