“Ocean Viking” ambulance ship rescues 75 migrants

He saved them from drowning. The ambulance ship Ocean Viking, chartered by SOS Méditerranée, sheltered 75 migrants in distress in the Ionian Sea, off the coast of south-eastern Italy, the association announced on Friday November 3. Among the survivors are 23 women and 17 children. They had been sailing for seven days aboard a sailboat that left Izmir, Turkey. The majority of them were from Afghanistan, Iran and Uzbekistan.

The migrants had exhausted their water and food reserves for two days, according to SOS Méditerranée, alerted to the situation by the Italian Maritime Rescue Center. L’Ocean Viking was returning from the port of Ravenna, in northeastern Italy, where it had disembarked 47 people rescued in a previous rescue, and was heading towards Sicily.

The ship is now heading towards the port of Taranto, in the south of Italy, which has been designated for it by the Italian authorities. In 2023, 2,467 migrants will go missing after trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe, according to the International Organization for Migration.