search and rescue operations sar

• Germany

The German NGO Sea-Watch has recently acquired a new aircraft in cooperation with the Swiss Humanitarian Pilots Initiative (HPI). The aircraft, which has been named Seabird, will be used for civil air reconnaissance missions off the coast of Libya, from where hundreds of migrants depart on makeshift boats to Europe every week . The new aircraft is an addition to the Moonbird, which has been active since 2017.

• Malta
• Germany

Migration in the Mediterranean became a focus as Germany took up the rotating presidency of the EU Council in July and the EU’s foreign minister, Josep Borrell, visited Malta this week.

• Somalia
• Malta
• Libya

52 people rescued from the Mediterranean on Saturday remain stranded on a livestock transport ship, MV Talia. Both Italy and Malta have denied them permission to disembark.

• Malta
• Libya
• Italy

A group of human rights activists and lawyers took their case to prosecutors to a court in Rome on Thursday, asking them to determine whether the Italian authorities were complicit in an incident involving a migrant boat at Easter, in which 12 people drowned and the 51 survivors were taken back to Libya.

• Pakistan
• Malta
• Libya

There are currently 118 rescued migrants on board the Ocean Viking ship in the Mediterranean, the majority of them hail from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Eritrea. Some of those on board spoke to AFP, telling them about their experiences of slavery in Libya.

• Tunisia
• Malta
• Libya

The NGO ship Ocean Viking rescued 118 migrants in the Mediterranean in two separate operations on Thursday. Meanwhile, rescue ship Alan Kurdi has been released by Italian authorities but is not yet ready to set off on a new mission.

• Italy
• Libya

Private migrant rescue vessels Sea-Watch 3 and Mare Jonio over the weekend disembarked close to 300 migrants on the Italian island of Sicily. The arrivals in Italy were the first of their kind since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

• Libya
• Italy

A number of humanitarian groups claim that the EU is using aerial surveillance to spot stranded migrants in the Mediterranean but only alerting Libya's coast guard to intervene. They say the alleged move facilitates illegal pushbacks while preventing non-governmental rescue operations from reaching migrants.

• Malta

An inquiry into the death of migrants at sea has cleared the name of Malta's prime minister of culpability, dismissing homicide accusations made against him and the chief of Malta's army.

• Libya
• Italy
• Malta

Migrant rescue ships are no longer allowed to operate in the Mediterranean, the situation in Malta is getting out of hand, and the number of Algerian migrants in Europe is rising at an alarming rate. InfoMigrants spoke to Vincent Cochetel, the UNHCR’s special envoy for the Central Mediterranean, about these and other current issues.

• Malta
• Libya

98 Europe-bound migrants who were rescued by a commercial ship flying a Portuguese flag have been returned to Libya via the Libyan navy. The return was confirmed by the IOM.

• Libya

The IOM is concerned that migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean continue to be returned to Libya. In the last three days, around 400 have been returned, a further 90 people risk being returned and two people died.