At least 60 migrants have died in the Libyan SAR zone (search and rescue, i.e. the stretch of sea under Libya’s jurisdiction as regards rescue operations) while they were trying to reach Italy on board a rubber dinghy. They have it told the 25 surviving people who they were rescued Wednesday from the Ocean Viking, a ship of the NGO SOS Méditerranée. They said the dinghy had left about a week earlier from Zawiya, a Libyan city just west of Tripoli, but after just three days of sailing the engine had failed, sending the vessel adrift.
SOS Méditerranée said the Ocean Viking spotted the dinghy on Wednesday and organized a rescue effort. The migrants were found in very precarious physical and mental conditions, after days in which they remained without food and water. Rescuers failed to resuscitate two people, who were taken away by helicopter by the Italian Coast Guard.
The #OceanViking team evacuated 25 people from a drifting rubber boat spotted via binoculars in the Libyan SRR. A medical mass casualty plan had to be initiated, to care for the survivors found in extreme vulnerable physical and mental health. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/vRMrV3q5Rg
— SOS MEDITERRANEE (@SOSMedIntl) March 13, 2024