Ocean Viking rescued 70 migrants from drowning in the Mediterranean

SOS Mediterranee announced yesterday that its humanitarian ship Ocean Viking rescued 73 people in two consecutive relief operations in international waters off the coast of Libya, bringing the number of survivors on board to 146. his crews initially rescued 33 people, including four minors (two of them unaccompanied) who were aboard an “unseaworthy and overcrowded wooden boat”. Shortly thereafter, Ocean Viking rescued 40 people (including ten women, nine unaccompanied minors, and three children under the age of four) in a “fiberglass boat about to sink”. These two operations bring the total number of survivors receiving care aboard the ship to 146 after the previous two weekends. Since the beginning of the year, 1,735 migrants have gone missing in the Mediterranean, including 1,269 in the central region, which, according to the International Organization for Migration, is the most dangerous migration route in the world. The United Nations has estimated the number of dead and missing in 2021 at about 2,060 people in the Mediterranean, including 1,567 in its central region alone.