Another 81 migrants rescued by charity ship off Libya

TIL Desk/World/On Board The Ocean Viking/ French charities SOS Mediterranean and MSF rescued another 81 migrants off the coast of Libya on Sunday, who joined 130 others aboard the ship the Ocean Viking. The young men, mostly Sudanese, who had left Libya late Saturday in a blue rubber dinghy, clapped and cheered as the ship came into view.

Sunday’s rescue was the third in as many days. The ship, jointly operated by SOS Mediterranean and Doctors Without Borders (MSF), has been patrolling international waters some 50 nautical miles off the coast of Tripoli.

“We’re the only ones in the area, the Libyan coastguard don’t respond” to distressed migrant vessels, SOS Mediterranean search and rescue coordinator Nicholas Romaniuk told .

The ship Open Arms, operated in the same area by Spanish charity Proactiva, counts 160 migrants, of whom 121 have been aboard for 10 days while waiting for reluctant EU states to take them in.