The humanitarian ship Ocean Viking chartered by SOS Méditerranée rescued, on Tuesday, June 27, 86 people who were trying to reach Europe on a makeshift boat, it was announced in a press release. A non-governmental humanitarian organization based in Marseille (southern France).
“The survivors, mostly from Gambia and Senegal, are suffering from dehydration, exhaustion and fuel burns.”A spokesman for the NGO told AFP. They would often be minors and attempted this perilous crossing without their relatives accompanying them.
sequel after announcement
They are now taken care of by teams from the SOS Méditerranée and the International Federation of the Red Cross aboard the “Ocean Viking”. The port of Bari was designated by the Italian authorities as a safe port for disembarkation of the survivors, which represented three days of navigation, and the NGO expressed regret.
1,724 migrants have gone missing since early 2023
In early January, several international NGOs involved in migrant rescue operations in the Mediterranean denounced the will of the far-right Italian government. “Hindering assistance to people in distress”. They pointed to the cross effects of an ordinance obliging the ships to surrender “without deadline” to an Italian port after each rescue, and the usual assignment to very remote ports, reducing assistance capabilities.
Ocean Viking: ‘All I wanted was to leave Libya, hell’
The Central Mediterranean is the most dangerous migration route in the world, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The UN agency estimates that since the start of 2023, 1,724 migrants have disappeared there, compared to 1,417 for the whole of 2022.
In June, a shipwreck that was one of the most dangerous wrecks for migrants in the Mediterranean Sea, killing at least 82 people, wrecked off the Peloponnese. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimate that between 400 and 750 passengers were on board the fishing trawler, including women and children.
