Over 2000 Migrants and Refugees Rescued in Mediterranean

Survivors said those missing include 15 women and five children General Ayoub Kacem told AFP. AP  PTI file
Survivors said those missing include 15 women and five children General Ayoub Kacem told AFP. AP PTI file
Author

15 April, 2017

Spain's maritime rescue service says it has saved 26 migrants, including one pregnant woman, from a boat that was taking on water as it tried to reach the European coast during the night.

Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency says 43 migrants were also rescued from a sinking rubber dinghy off Turkey's coast while trying to cross to the Greek island of Lesbos.

One person was found dead, the spokesman said.

MSF later posted a video showing women singing with happiness after their rescue.

Migrants rest on the deck of the Malta-based NGO Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) ship Phoenix after being rescued from a rubber dinghy in the central Mediterranean in global waters some 15 nautical miles off the coast of Zawiya in Libya, April 14, 2017.

Around 27,000 migrants attempted to reach Italy from Libya by boat this year till April 9 while 664 died on the perilous crossing, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

In one operation, the Phoenix rescued 134 people, all from sub-Saharan counties, he said. The UN said in January more than 5,000 migrants died attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea into Europe in 2016, a record high.

Friday's rescues come a day after a shipwreck left at least 97 migrants feared drowned off Libya.

European Union border control agency Frontex has accused donor supported ships off the coast of Libya of acting "like taxis" for migrants and doing more harm than good.

MSF was critical of Frontex's lack of support, tweeting, "how many people would have crossed if we weren't there today, Frontex?"

The Doctors Without Borders (MSF) boats Prudence and Aquarius rescued about 1 145 people from nine different dinghies in exhausting operations it said proved their presence off the North African coast was needed.

"Where are Frontex boats in a day like this?" it asked.

MSF tweeted "the sea continues to be a graveyard" during Friday's rescue.

Desperate refugees struggled to stay afloat after they slid off their rubber boat during a rescue operation by the Phoenix, a ship of the rescue group Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS). Rescuers jumped into the water to help them.


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