The private aid organization SOS Mediterranee has previously rescued further boat migrants from distress in the Mediterranean Sea. The crew of the “Ocean Viking” took almost 60 people on board from an overcrowded wooden boat in the Maltese search and rescue zone on their fifth mission within 36 hours, as the organization announced on Saturday night. A few weeks old baby was among the rescued. According to SOS Mediterranee, there are 355 migrants rescued from distress on the “Ocean Viking”. They are waiting for a landing port.
The Spanish rescue ship “Open Arms Uno” arrived in the Sicilian port of Messina on Saturday with 99 people – including some minors – on board who had been rescued off the Sicilian coast in the past few days. Most migrants are from Egypt, Bangladesh, Sudan, Nigeria, Morocco, Pakistan, Syria and Chad, Italian authorities said.
92 migrants also arrived on Saturday aboard a sailing boat in the southern Italian region of Puglia. More than 200 migrants have also landed in the Calabria region since Friday. Most people leave from the coasts of North Africa, for example from the civil war countries Libya or Tunisia, in order to get to the EU via the Mediterranean. They are often rescued from distress at sea by private aid organizations during the dangerous crossings across the Mediterranean Sea.
Missions by private sea rescuers are highly controversial
In Italy, the operations of private sea rescuers are now highly controversial. The right-wing parties that are leading in the polls promise in the current election campaign that they want to prevent the arrival of migrants in the Mediterranean country if they take office after September 25th. The aid organizations repeatedly criticize that with the rescued migrants on board they have to wait a long time for the authorities to allocate them a safe haven.
Source: Nachrichten
