The Spanish humanitarian organization Proactiva Open Arms rescued 73 migrants from a distressed boat in the Mediterranean early Thursday morning. Some of the migrants were severely injured, the NGO said.
The humanitarian rescue vessel Ocean Viking picked up 94 migrants on Tuesday after the boat they were traveling on encountered distress at sea. The rescued migrants include women and children.
Migrant deaths on the three Mediterranean routes to Europe have decreased by nearly 50 percent compared to the same period last year, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports. The number of migrants entering Europe via Greece and Spain accounts for about three-fourths of the regional total.
During a meeting in Rome, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte discussed the role of Libya’s controversial coast guard and the distribution of migrants across the European Union. Both called for increased cooperation among EU member states.
Italy granted permission for migrants on board a Sea-Eye rescue ship to disembark, after nearly a week stranded at sea. The standoff ended after Germany and other EU countries agreed to take in the migrants.
The two rescue ships Alan Kurdi and Ocean Viking were assigned a safe harbor at the Italian port of Pozzallo in Sicily. The nearly 200 migrants will be distributed to France, Germany and Italy, according to the private rescue organization SOS Mediterranee. A pregnant woman had been evacuated over the weekend, and one man remains missing since the Alan Kurdi rescued 91 migrants on Saturday.
Libyan authorities fired warning shots in the air and pointed mounted guns at rescuers and migrants, according to the humanitarian group Sea-Eye. A group spokesman said the act was unprecedented.
When 19-year-old Fatim Jawara embarked on a dangerous journey across the Saharan desert in 2016, her goal was to make it big as a footballer in Europe. But the aspiring athlete from the Gambia never got to follow her dreams: Her life ended when the dinghy she travelled on sank in the Mediterranean Sea. The memory of her lives on in her football team in the Gambia.
The Italian coastguard has located at least 12 bodies and the wreck of a migrant boat that sank last week off the island of Lampedusa.
The migrant rescue ship Ocean Viking is heading to the port city of Taranto in Italy after being given permission to disembark 176 migrants. The migrants, including at least nine children, were rescued from two boats off the Libyan coast on Sunday.
The Spanish non-profit organization Proactiva Open Arms has rescued 44 people from a wooden boat in the Mediterranean. The chief of mission of the rescue boat says Malta told him not to help the group, which included a young child and a baby.
A boat carrying some 50 migrants from Tunisia and West Africa has sunk off the coast of the island of Lampedusa, south of Sicily. The Italian coast guard has rescued 22 people so far, but it has also recovered at least 13 bodies.