Nearly 150 people have been rescued this Tuesday in two operations carried out by a ship of the German non-governmental organization SOS Humanity in the central Mediterranean, where between Sunday and Monday more than 150 migrants were rescued by Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
SOS Humanity has indicated through its account on the social network Twitter that the ‘MV Louise Michel’ rescued 49 people late on Monday in a two-story wooden boat that was suffering from complications. “The personnel of ‘Humanity 1’ and ‘MV Louise Michel’ transferred the 49 people on board ‘Humanity 1’, in a complicated night rescue,” he said.
“The presence of the so-called Libyan Coast Guard added to the tensions. Their ship circumnavigated the rescue situation, but did not intervene. Once the rescue was completed, they set the wooden boat on fire. All relevant coordination and rescue centers, including those of Malta and Italy were informed and coordination was requested, but they did not fulfill their responsibilities,” he denounced.
Shortly after, he indicated that at around 7:00 a.m. “another boat in trouble” was located. “This time it was a very crowded inflatable boat with over a hundred people on board. They were all safely transferred aboard ‘Humanity 1’ at 9:30 a.m., with ‘MV Louise Michel’ again involved in the rescue,” he added. .
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) states on its website that so far this year more than 1,960 people have died or have been reported missing when they tried to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach European shores, a figure that in 2021 rose to 2,062, above the data for 2020 and 2019.
