DOZENS OF UNDERAGE MIGRANTS RESCUED IN MEDITERRANEAN
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The relief organisation that runs the rescue ship Ocean Viking reported on Wednesday that it had rescued 48 migrants, primarily minors, from the Mediterranean off the coast of Libya on Tuesday.
SOS Mediterranee, a Marseille-based organisation, said in a statement that “90 percent of the group crammed into an overcrowded small boat were unaccompanied minors.”
It was stated that Ocean Viking had stepped in after being alerted via VHF radio by a NATO aircraft about the boat.
“Most of the survivors are originally from The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau,” according to SOS Mediterranee, which added that they were “now safe and resting in the on-board shelters”.
Guinea-Bissau, located on the western coast of Africa, is regarded as one of the most impoverished and corrupt nations in the world.
When Italian authorities authorised Ocean Viking to dock so that the individuals might disembark at the far-off port of Ravenna, which is over 1,600 kilometres (1,000 miles) or four days’ sail away, the humanitarian organisation objected.
“This practice… empties the Mediterranean of search and rescue resources and increases the suffering of rescued people,” SOS Mediterranee said.
Around 1,985 people attempting to reach Europe across the Mediterranean have gone missing or died this year, according to International Organization for Migration (IOM) figures.
AFP
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