Open Arms rescues a further 77 migrants in the Mediterranean

On Thursday September 10, the humanitarian rescue ship Open Arms, run by the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms, carried out a second rescue of 77 people. The ship was already carrying 83 migrants from a rescue which took place on September 8. The ship now has 160 people on board.

Those rescued on Thursday include 11 women and two children. According to the charity, the boat the migrants were traveling on was in a “bad state” and was about to sink.

The charity posted a video of the rescue by torchlight. The migrants aboard contacted the organization Alarm Phone on Thursday evening and Alarm Phone passed on their appeal for help. Alarm Phone tweeted that "water was entering the boat and that some people are sick." The organization added that those on board were asking to be rescued and needed "a place of safety."

The two rescues in the space of a few days are the first ones in six months: the Open Arms was undergoing repairs and renovation. The charity said these works were essential for the boat to be able to welcome a medical team on board with the latest equipment to detect infectious diseases like COVID-19, tuberculosis, and HIV. The Open Arms is the first such boat to have that kind of facility on board, according to InfoMigrants French.

The Open Arms is the only humanitarian ship at the moment patrolling the search and rescue zone off the Libyan coast. They are helped in their mission by the surveillance plane Astral, also operated by Proactiva Open Arms.