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At least 60 people, including a woman and a child, died on a migrant boat in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, according to the Italian news agency ANSA. Migrants and refugees were rescued by the Ocean Viking after several days adrift in the Mediterranean Sea.
25 survivors who were rescued by the humanitarian ship Ocean Viking several days after their boat sank, stated that they sailed from the city of Zawiya, western Libya. The engine broke down after three days, leaving the boat adrift without food or water for several days. It was not immediately clear how those who died were said to have lost their lives.
The non-governmental organization SOS Mediterranee had said that at least 60 migrants were lost in the Mediterranean Sea on board a ship carrying migrants from Libya to Europe. Two of the 25 survivors had to be medically evacuated by the Italian Coast Guard during the night after losing consciousness. They were taken to a hospital in Sicily.
Ocean Viking also has aboard 113 people recovered on Wednesday night and a further 88 rescued on Thursday from an overloaded inflatable craft. It has been directed to Ancona on Italy’s eastern coast, which ‘SOS Mediterrannee’ said was 1,450 kilometers from its current position. The aid group said it had asked Italian authorities for somewhere closer to put ashore.
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SOS Mediterranee has rescued more than 39,000 people in the Mediterranean since 2016 — most of them on the Central Mediterranean route, the world’s most dangerous migrant passage. Last year, 3,105 migrants died or were reported missing attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, according to IOM figures. The count has reached 278 so far this year.
