In the past 24 hours more than 2,700 African immigrants have been plucked from the sea between Libya and Europe. The private non profit rescue ship Aquarius first picked up 132 shipwreck victims from a Zodiac rubber raft. Among them, 92 men, 38 women, of whom 7 were pregnant, 14 babies under five years of age and 19 minors unaccompanied by their parents. A two-and-a-half -year -old baby boy from Cameroon was near death with respiratory problems and dehydration and was sent by helicopter with his mother to an Italian hospital. Most of this group were from Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Conakry and Nigeria in western and central Africa.
Shortly thereafter the Aquarius made way towards a Neapolitan cargo ship that had picked up 300 migrants, among them, 33 women, three of them pregnant, and transferred them aboard.
The Aquarius is the rescue ship operated by SOS Mediterranee. This is from their website:
"In the early 2000s, the Mediterranean Sea became one of the most prominent routes for refugees trying to reach Europe.
As they cross the Mediterranean Sea on old ships and rubber boats unsuitable for high seas, it is estimated that 23.000 refugees lost their lives between 2000 and 2014 (source: The Migrants Files). These numbers sadly reached a high of around 3.700 people in 2015. In the first month of 2016, nearly 250 people have died or went missing (source: UNHCR).
SOS MEDITERRANEE was founded in Berlin on 9th of May 2015 – Europe Day – by an assembly of European citizens forming around merchant marine Captain, Klaus Vogel. Faced with the repeated shipwrecks and the limited deployed resources, these citizens consider it their duty to organize rescue missions and to testify about the situation of refugees in the Mediterranean Sea."
Shortly thereafter the Aquarius made way towards a Neapolitan cargo ship that had picked up 300 migrants, among them, 33 women, three of them pregnant, and transferred them aboard.
The Aquarius is the rescue ship operated by SOS Mediterranee. This is from their website:
"In the early 2000s, the Mediterranean Sea became one of the most prominent routes for refugees trying to reach Europe.
As they cross the Mediterranean Sea on old ships and rubber boats unsuitable for high seas, it is estimated that 23.000 refugees lost their lives between 2000 and 2014 (source: The Migrants Files). These numbers sadly reached a high of around 3.700 people in 2015. In the first month of 2016, nearly 250 people have died or went missing (source: UNHCR).
SOS MEDITERRANEE was founded in Berlin on 9th of May 2015 – Europe Day – by an assembly of European citizens forming around merchant marine Captain, Klaus Vogel. Faced with the repeated shipwrecks and the limited deployed resources, these citizens consider it their duty to organize rescue missions and to testify about the situation of refugees in the Mediterranean Sea."