Over 350 migrants rescued from sea
MARSEILLE: More than 350 migrants have been rescued off the Libyan coast by the Ocean Viking humanitarian vessel in just two days, a European NGO running the boat said on Saturday.
SOS Mediterranee said that “106 people were rescued in international waters 50km from the Libyan coast” on Friday evening.
“The majority of the people aboard an inflatable rubber dinghy were found intoxicated by oil fumes,” it said. They came from Guinea, Sudan and Sierra Leone. SOS Mediterranee said its calls for aid on Saturday aternoon to Libyan officials went unheeded and “we then asked Maltese and Italian maritime authorities for help.”
“The weather is worsening. We have to dock in a safe place as soon as possible.”
On Friday morning, the Ocean Viking picked up 149 people from two boats following an SOS signal, including 58 minors and four babies -- one just a month old, it said. Since Thursday, a total of 374 people have been rescued by the Ocean Viking, of whom 165 are children, SOS Mediterranee said. A total of 131 minors are unaccompanied. According to SOS Mediterranee’s head, Sophie Beau, who said “the others have been blocked by Italian authorities like the Ocean Viking earlier.”
Libya’s coast guard intercepted early Friday, more than 80 Europe-bound migrants in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya, the UN migration agency said.
The migrants were returned to Libyan soil, said the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
They will most likely be held under dire conditions in detention centres that Libya has become notorious for.
“So far this year, some 300 people, including women and children, were returned to the country and ended up in detention,” said the IOM. “We reiterate that no one should be returned to Libya.”
The IOM posted photographs on Twiter showing its staff members speaking with mostly African male migrants on a Libyan pier.
This was the second interception off Libya in as many days. Late Thursday, the IOM said the Libyan navy returned to Libya another 86 migrants, including seven women and 19 children, who were intercepted earlier in the Mediterranean.