SOS has announced that the rescue ship “Ocean Viking” has saved 244 migrants off the coast of Libya, including women and children, in 3 separate operations.
The organization said that the ship received a distress call on Wednesday morning from an overcrowded wooden boat whose passengers lacked survival supplies, noting that it sent three boats to rescue 122 people, including eight unaccompanied minors.
According to SOS, the ship received a call from a Libyan Coast Guard patrol located near the boat, requesting a rescue operation and sending them to the port of Bari, in southeast Italy.
It added that it carried out a second rescue operation of a wooden boat that was overloaded and was able to rescue 106 people, including 8 women, two of whom were pregnant, and 4 children. The organization also indicated that its ship spotted another boat with 16 people on board, all of whom were rescued in coordination with the Italian authorities.
Nearly 2,678 illegal immigrants have gone missing since the beginning of 2023 after trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe, according to the International Organization for Migration.
