The Ocean Viking, an ambulance ship chartered by SOS Méditerranée, rescued 92 migrants in distress on Saturday afternoon aboard an "overloaded and deflated" inflatable boat off the coast of Libya, the Marseille-based humanitarian NGO announced. .
Among those evacuated are "9 women and about 40 unaccompanied minors," the NGO added on Twitter, posting photos of the rescue. The survivors, mostly "exhausted, some suffering from petrol burns and injuries", were cared for by SOS Méditerranée and a Red Cross team. Some, too weak, had to be transported on a stretcher and warmed by blankets.
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The NGO indicated in the evening that the Italian authorities assigned it the port of Salerno (West, in Campania) "as a safe place for disembarkation". This is located 450 nautical miles (about 833 kilometers) away from the current location of the Ocean Viking ship. "As the weather forecast deteriorates, we fear that the prolonged navigation will affect the fragile condition of the survivors," the NGO said in a statement.
In early January, several international NGOs involved in rescue operations for migrants in the Mediterranean denounced the desire of the far-right Italian government "to hinder assistance to people in distress".
They pointed to the cross-effects of a decree obliging vessels to proceed "without delay" to an Italian port after each rescue and the now usual assignment of very distant ports, reducing assistance capacities. The central Mediterranean is the most dangerous migration route in the world, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The UN agency estimates that in 2022, 1,417 migrants disappeared there.
