659 people were on board MSF’s Geo Barents, 387 on SOS Méditerranée’s Ocean Viking and 438 on SeaWatch3
Nearly 1,500 migrants rescued while trying to reach Europe by sailing across the Mediterranean are today expecting to be able to disembark soon at a port, non-governmental organizations said.
659 people were on board the MSF ship Geo Barents, 387 on the SOS Méditerranée Ocean Viking and 438 on the SeaWatch3 ship of the SeaWatch organization.
SeaWatch announced this evening that Italian authorities had allowed its ship to approach the port of Taranto, on the “heel” of the “Italian boot”.
“Great relief, but also concern: two days of travel lie ahead, meaning additional suffering for those who have already suffered a lot,” the NGO said sadly in a message on Twitter.
Thousands of migrants have arrived in recent weeks on the Italian islands of Lampedusa and Sicily, in makeshift boats or fishing boats that were often junk boats or even rescued at sea by NGOs or the Italian coast guard.
Since January 1, 38,778 people have arrived in Italy by sea, compared to 27,771 in the same period in 2021 and 12,999 in 2020, according to the Italian interior ministry.
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