The migrants were rescued overnight in international waters under Malta’s search and rescue zone, close to the Libyan zone, he added.
Ocean Viking, the SOS Méditerranée humanitarian ship, rescued 113 people in the Mediterranean during its first operation since docking in France in November at the end of a diplomatic brawl between Paris and Rome, the non-governmental organization said in a statement today. her.
Among them, “23 women, some of whom are pregnant, around 30 unaccompanied minor children and 3 babies, the youngest of which is only three weeks old,” says SOS Méditerranée, which is based in Marseille, in southeastern France. .
The migrants were rescued overnight in international waters under Malta’s search and rescue zone, close to the Libyan zone, he added.
They were on a “black overloaded inflatable boat, in total darkness,” according to SOS Méditerranée.
They were cared for on board by non-governmental organization members, as well as the Red Cross and Red Crescent.
For now, the Ocean Viking “continues to patrol” and “it is still too early” to know where it will be able to disembark the rescued, SOS Méditerranée spokeswoman Meryl Soti told AFP.
In mid-November, the Ocean Viking disembarked in Toulon, in southeastern France, 230 migrants it had rescued between Libya and Italy, after sailing for three weeks at sea in search of a safe port.
The French government had agreed to welcome the ship “exceptionally” after Italy’s refusal sparked diplomatic tensions between the two countries.
After being transferred to a closed “holding zone”, the majority of the rescued were released by court order because they were unaccompanied minors or because they were granted asylum in France.
Since the beginning of the year, 1,998 migrants have gone missing in the Mediterranean, including 1,369 in the central Mediterranean, the world’s most dangerous migrant route, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Every year, thousands of people fleeing their country to escape conflict or poverty try to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean from Libya, whose coast is about 300 kilometers from Italy.
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