The Ocean Viking, the SOS Mediterranean rescue ship at sea, has rescued 88 additional migrants in recent days in the Mediterranean, after a first rescue of 44 people on Thursday, we learned from the NGO.
In three operations and four ships rescued since Thursday, the Ocean Viking has therefore rescued 132 people in all, including 9 women and 40 minors, according to a spokesperson for SOS Mediterranean. These rescues, which took place in particular in the Maltese rescue and research zone, off the Libyan coast, concerned three wooden ships and one made of fiberglass, into which water and fuel had infiltrated.
More than 30,000 people rescued since February 2016
The United Nations recently pinned down Libya and the European Union, calling on them to reform their search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea and claiming that current practices deprive migrants of their rights and dignity, when they do not take away from them. not life. Since the start of 2021, 866 migrants have lost their lives in the Mediterranean trying to reach Europe, according to figures from the International Organization for Migration.
SOS Méditerranée claims to have rescued more than 30,000 people since February 2016, first with the Aquarius, then the Ocean Viking.