Desk Report
Published: 01 Aug 2021, 06:04 pm
394 migrants have been rescued from a dangerously overcrowded wooden boat in the Mediterranean (Photo: Collected)
A number
of Bangladeshis among 394 migrants have been rescued from a dangerously
overcrowded wooden boat in the Mediterranean overnight on Sunday in an
operation lasting about six hours, a Reuters witness said.
Two
humanitarian rescue ships pulled them. Other than the Bangladeshis, the
migrants were mainly men from Morocco, Egypt and Syria.
The
German and French NGO ships Sea-Watch 3 and Ocean Viking rescued the migrants
in Tunisian waters 68 km (42 miles) from the North African coast, near oil
facilities and other ships.
Sea-Watch
3, which assumed command of the operation, took 141 of the survivors while
Ocean Viking took the rest. The yacht Nadir, from the German NGO ResQ Ship,
later gave support.
It was
not clear if there were any deaths or injuries among the migrants who were in
the wooden boat, which was crammed with migrants on deck and inside the hull.
The craft
was taking in water and its engine was not working, the Reuters witness said.
Migrant
boat departures from Libya and Tunisia to Italy and other parts of Europe have
increased in recent months as weather conditions have improved.
According
to the UN-affiliated International Organization for Migration, more than 1,100
people fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa and the Middle East have perished
this year in the Mediterranean.
Many of
the migrants in this latest rescue were seen jumping off the boat and trying to
swim to Sea-Watch 3, the Reuters witness said.