A group of 58 rescued migrants disembarked from the Sea-Eye 4 in Pozzallo, Sicily, on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Geo Barents and Sea-Watch 4 rescue ships – carrying more than 600 migrants together – are still waiting for a port to dock.
On Sunday evening, the private rescue ship, Sea-Watch 4 announced it had rescued "88 people from distress at sea." The ship's crew reported they now have 145 on board. The Sea-Eye 4 also picked up 34 people from a cargo ship, after the migrants had spent at least four nights at sea.
After more than a week on board the rescue ship 'Geo Barents', 101 people have been allowed to disembark in Italy. Nearly 300 others, many of them minors, are still waiting at sea on the Ocean Viking rescue vessel.
More than 20 people lost their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean from Tunisia and Libya at the weekend. An official in the Tunisian town of Sfax said they have run out of room to bury the dead.
Lebanese rescue teams continued to search the Mediterranean for survivors on Monday after an overloaded boat carrying migrants capsized. A national day of mourning has been declared, as dozens of people are believed to have died.
More than 4,000 migrants have been returned to Libya since the beginning of the year, according to the latest IOM numbers. The report comes after two boats in the past ten days have capsized off the Libyan coast, resulting in 53 presumed deaths.
The humanitarian organization Sea-Watch rescued 211 migrants from the Mediterranean over the last days, but survivors and crew had to witness some drown as they arrived too late to help.
The private rescue organization Sea-Eye transferred 32 migrants to its ship Sea-Eye 4 on Tuesday after a container ship with a Ukrainian captain rescued the group in the Mediterranean on Monday. They are now headed for Malta in the hope of finding a port for disembarkation, said the organization.
On Monday, the crew of the Ocean Viking received permission to disembark almost 160 migrants in Sicily. The humanitarian rescue vessel operated by SOS Mediterranee had been waiting all weekend to be assigned a safe port.
Four African migrants have been found dead in eastern Tunisia. They likely died of cold or hunger after crossing over from Algeria, according to local authorities.
At least nine migrants have died after their boat capsized off the Tunisian coast, the country's defense ministry has said. Nine other passengers were reportedly rescued.
Nearly 600 migrants were rescued during the night of Monday to Tuesday about 100 kilometers off Calabria, in the toe of Italy, announced the Italian coast guard. One body was found of a person who was reported to have been dead for several days.