Status: 10/17/2021 8:32 p.m.
The crossing from North Africa to Europe – often on inflatable boats that are not seaworthy – is life-threatening. 120 migrants in distress have now been rescued off the Libyan coast – by the private organization Sea-Watch.
In several missions within a few hours, the German aid organization Sea-Watch rescued a total of 120 migrants from distress off the Libyan coast. As the organization announced on Twitter, its rescue ship “Sea-Watch 3” initially took 66 boat refugees on board, including many children. The people on board would receive medical care.
Three hours later, Sea-Watch reported a second rescue operation in which 54 people were rescued from a rubber dinghy.
In addition, according to reports from the Italian news agency Ansa, 49 migrants arrived in several boats on Sardinia’s coasts on Sunday. Another 31 migrants reached the Italian island of Lampedusa, 41 went ashore in Sicily.
1,400 deaths since the beginning of the year
People mostly try to get to the EU from the coasts of Tunisia or Libya across the Mediterranean. Again and again there are accidents with fatalities on the dangerous crossings. Sometimes the coast guards of the North African countries pick up the people and bring them back against their will.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), around 1,400 migrants have died fleeing across the Mediterranean since the beginning of the year. According to official figures, there were more than 1200 fatalities last year. However, experts assume a high number of unreported cases.
The “Sea-Watch 3” had recently started a new mission and reached the target area off Libya on Saturday. Most recently, the ship brought more than 250 migrants to the Sicilian port of Trapani in August. The crew later headed for the Spanish city of Burriana to prepare for the next mission. The “Sea-Watch 3” has already been arrested several times in the ports of various Mediterranean countries such as Italy or Malta, because they wanted to prevent the admission of further refugees.