Status: 01/02/2023 2:49 p.m
On their journey across the Mediterranean, migrants repeatedly get into distress. After two missions, the “Geo Barents” brought a total of 85 people on board – and is now on its way to the Italian port of Taranto.
The private rescue ship “Geo Barents” has taken on 85 migrants in distress in the Mediterranean Sea and is now taking them to Italy. According to the organization “Doctors Without Borders”, which operates the ship, the team rescued 41 people in international waters off the coast of Libya on Monday night. The migrants’ boat had already capsized.
According to the information, the “Geo Barents” later took over, at the request of the Italian authorities, another 44 people who had previously been rescued by a merchant ship. The rescue ship is now to go to the port of the city of Taranto in the south of the country on Italy’s instructions. According to the crew, it takes about two days to get there.
Thousands dead migrants in the Mediterranean
According to the Interior Ministry, around 104,000 boat migrants arrived in Italy last year (as of December 30). In the same period last year, the number was around 67,000. Many migrants reach the shores of the Mediterranean country on their own, daring the dangerous crossing from Libya or Tunisia. People are putting their lives at risk because the boats are often overcrowded and unseaworthy.
According to the International Organization for Migration, more than 2,000 people died or are missing on this route in 2022. The number of unreported cases is likely to be much higher. There is no state-organized sea rescue service in the Mediterranean. Only organizations funded by donations look out for migrants in need.
The right-wing government in Rome wants to limit the arrivals of migrants in the future. The organizations should now enter a port after the first rescue. Before that, they were usually on the road for a few days in their areas of operation and had taken on several rescue missions and thus more migrants.