Among the rescued migrants are 81 minors, the majority of whom are unaccompanied and a three-week-old infant.
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L’ocean vikinghumanitarian ship of SOS Méditerranée, which has carried out ten rescue operations since Wednesday, awaits Sunday, August 28 the allocation of“a safe harbor” to disembark the 466 people rescued at sea. “Many of them are exhausted by a long and difficult migratory journey, the suffering endured in Libya and the trauma of a dangerous crossing in oppressive heat”wrote the NGO on Sunday in a statement to AFP.
The migrants, of 19 nationalities, are mostly from Bangladesh, Egypt, Tunisia and Eritrea. Among them are 81 minors, the majority of whom are unaccompanied, and a three-week-old infant. The situation on the deck of the ambulance ship “is currently quiet”further detailed SOS Méditerranée, which takes care of the survivors on board with the help of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent.
Since the beginning of the year, 1,161 migrants have disappeared in the Mediterranean, including 918 in the central Mediterranean, the most dangerous migratory route in the world, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The UN agency estimated the number of dead and missing in 2021 at 2,048 in the Mediterranean, including 1,553 for the central Mediterranean alone.