Geo Barents rescued 48 migrants from a wooden boat off the coast of Libya while Ocean Viking rescued 84 migrants from a crammed rubber dinghy. Both ships have been assigned ports much further north in the Adriatic ports of Ancona and Ravenna.
The Geo Barents vessel, which belongs to Doctors Without Borders (MSF), rescued 48 migrants (nine of whom were children), the private humanitarian organization said on Monday (February 13).
Geo Barents picked up the migrants from a wooden boat in international waters near the Libyan coast.
Shortly after, Italian authorities assigned the vessel the city of Ancona further up north on the Adriatic coast as a port of call, according to MSF. The journey to Ancona is expected to take five days.
Under the new government of far-right leader Giorgia Meloni, it is now common practice to assign ships to far-flung ports. Meloni has also urged authorities to significantly slash the number of migrants arriving by boat in Italy.
Ocean Viking rescues scores of migrants from overloaded dinghy
Ocean Viking, another rescue ship, rescued 84 migrants from an "overloaded" rubber dinghy during a separate mission off the coast of Libya on Tuesday. SOS Méditerranée, the Marseille-based aid organization which operates Ocean Viking, said 58 minors were among the migrants rescued.
Some of the migrants were suffering from dehydration and hypothermia, according to the report.
Italian authorities directed the aid ship to the port of Ravenna, also on the northern Adriatic coast.
In early January, several humanitarian organizations operating in the Mediterranean accused the Italian government of hampering sea rescue operations. They referred to a decree according to which a rescue ship must immediately call at a port assigned to it.
The journey across the Central Mediterranean is said to be the most dangerous escape route in the world, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The IOM estimates that 1,377 people died on this route in 2022.
With dpa, AFP