MARSEILLE: Rescue ship Ocean Viking on Tuesday pulled 48 mostly underage migrants from the Mediterranean off the Libyan coast, the aid group that operates the vessel said on Wednesday.

The group packed into an overloaded small boat was made up of “90 per cent unaccompanied minors”, Marseille-based SOS Mediterranee said in a statement.

Ocean Viking had intervened after receiving a notification about the boat from a Nato aircraft by VHF radio, it added.

“Most of the survivors are originally from The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau,” according to SOS Mediterranee, which added that they were “now safe and resting in the on-board shelters”.

Guinea-Bisseau on Africa’s western coast is one of the world’s poorest countries, seen also as one of the most plagued by corruption.

The aid group complained at Italian authorities’ issuance of an authorisation for Ocean Viking to dock for the people to disembark at the distant port of Ravenna — almost 1,600 kilometres or a four days’ sail away. “This practice... empties the Mediterranean of search and rescue resources and increases the suffering of rescued people,” SOS Mediterranee said.

Around 1,985 people attempting to reach Europe across the Mediterranean have gone missing or died this year, according to International Organisation for Migration (IOM) figures.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2024