Once again, death has struck the migrant route in the central Mediterranean. The sea rescue non-governmental organization (NGO) SOS Méditerranée announced that it had collected from the twenty-five survivors of a shipwreck, rescued by its ship, theOcean-VikingWednesday March 13, testimonies reporting the death of around sixty people, who succumbed to thirst during the crossing.
Their inflatable boat, spotted by NGO teams off the coast of Libya, would have left a week earlier, with around 85 people on board from the Zaouïa area, in western Libya, a historically important starting point. crossings to the Italian coast. According to testimonies relayed by the humanitarian organization, the canoe had suffered engine damage en route, condemning its occupants, mainly from Senegal and Gambia, to drift for several days, without food or a means of calling. help. The first elements collected by the SOS Méditerranée teams from survivors in a serious state of shock indicate that at least one young child was among the missing.
” L’Ocean-Viking rescued the boat by chance, spotting it with binoculars as it was heading towards another boat in difficulty which had been reported to us, explains Sophie Beau, co-founder of SOS Méditerranée. The crew immediately knew there was a problem. Twenty-five people on this type of boat is unusually low. »
“State of absolute physical and psychological distress”
The castaways were rescued in what the NGO describes as a “state of absolute physical and psychological distress”. Suffering from dehydration and hypothermia, many of them had severe burns caused by the mixture of seawater and fuel to which they were exposed, recurring injuries among exiles undertaking the crossing to the Mediterranean from the coasts of ‘North Africa. Two unconscious people who could not be resuscitated on board theOcean-Viking were evacuated by Italian coast guard helicopters.
Accused of constituting a pull factor for illegal migrants, sea rescue NGOs are targeted by a hostile policy of the government dominated by the far right of the president of the Italian council, Giorgia Meloni. At the beginning of March, three ships belonging to the organizations SOS Humanity, Sea Watch and Sea Eye were temporarily immobilized by administrative decision for having violated the very restrictive standards implemented by the Italian executive to regulate their activities.
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