At least 60 migrants have died after a motorized boat broke down in the Mediterranean while trying to cross from Libya to Europe. France’s Marseille-based humanitarian aid organization, SOS Mediterranee, reported the people who were rescued alive from the boat.
SOS Mediterranean’s rescue ship, Ocean Viking, rescued 224 people from various boats floating in the Mediterranean Sea. The ship with the rescued people is now on its way to the port of Italy.
Twenty-five of the people aboard the Ocean Viking were rescued from the boat off Zaiya, Libya. The boat left Libya on March 8. And after three days, its engine broke down.
SOS Mediterranean says the rescued people have told them they have had no food or water for days.
It was not immediately known how those who were reported dead died. AFP could not immediately confirm the veracity of the death report.
SOS Mediterranee has been told to go to Ancona on the east coast of Italy. SOS Mediterranee says the location is 1,450 kilometers from their current location. They requested that the Italian authorities allow the ship to be moored somewhere nearby.
The United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) has expressed deep concern over the boat’s engine failure in the central Mediterranean region.
Since 2016, SOS Mediterranean has rescued 39,000 people from the Mediterranean. Most were recovered from the central Mediterranean region. It is the most dangerous route used by migrants.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 3,105 migrants died or went missing while trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe last year. And 278 people have died so far this year.
