The people in distress were brought to safety in six missions in Maltese and Libyan waters in the past five days, the organization said on Tuesday.
A little more than 180 people on board are minors, according to the organization. In their previous mission, the helpers rescued almost 370 people from an overcrowded wooden boat. According to their announcement, the volunteers now appeal to the EU to take in the rescued. The accusation was that none of the responsible maritime authorities had taken over the coordination for the rescue operations. The crew spoke of “shocking” experiences in the past few days.
The “Ocean Viking” is currently the only ship of a private sea rescue organization that operates in the central Mediterranean. The remaining ships of various organizations are either detained in Italy by the authorities or prepared for an upcoming mission.
The Libyan and Tunisian coast guards also repeatedly take people on board in the central Mediterranean, but bring themselves back to the countries from which they left. Many organizations criticize this on the grounds that those rescued in Libya, for example, are threatened with violence.
In small, mostly overcrowded boats, refugees repeatedly set out on dangerous journeys across the Mediterranean towards the EU. As of last Friday, almost 21,000 boat migrants had arrived in Italy. In the same period of the previous year, it was slightly more than 7,300.
The organizations’ rescue operations are politically controversial. Critics believe that it is mainly the smugglers who make money from it and that the results of the operations are more boat migrants and more deaths on this route. Aid organizations claim, among other things, that international maritime law requires rescued people to be brought to the nearest safe harbor as quickly as possible.
Published: 07/06/2021, 14 minutes ago
Last updated: 07/06/2021, 14 minutes ago