ABOARD THE GEO BARENTS: A nonprofit rescue ship operating off the coast of Libya conducted two heroic rescue operations in the early hours of Friday morning, saving a total of 258 migrants in distress.
In the first operation, the rescue ship, Geo Barents, rescued 162 migrants, including 17 women and 29 minors, from a 7-meter (23-foot) wooden boat. The migrants, mainly Syrians and Egyptians, were found in a cramped area below the deck, enduring unsafe and unventilated conditions.
Flavia Conte, rescue coordinator for the Doctors Without Borders rescue ship, described the dire situation, stating, “Many of them were below deck, in the belly of the boat, a place that is even more unsecure as far as ventilation is concerned. The Geo Barents has discovered people who have died in this particular part of boats.”
In the second operation, 96 people, including nine children and mainly Syrians, were rescued from a similar wooden boat.
Rescued Migrants Shifted to Port of Salerno
The Italian Maritime Authority has directed the Geo Barents to take the rescued migrants to the port of Salerno, near Naples, which is 400 kilometers (250 miles) from their current location. This decision, however, has raised concerns as it keeps the rescue ships away from areas where their presence is urgently needed.
A spokesperson from the aid group expressed frustration at the lack of action by governments, stating, “It means having probably more people crossing in a very unsafe way or even disappearing or dying or being intercepted and then brought back to Libya.”
Italian Interior Ministry statistics revealed that as of October 6, nearly 136,000 people had arrived in Italy this year, compared to 72,000 in the same period last year. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, currently in Granada, Spain, for a migration summit, has been advocating for additional assistance from other European countries as Italy grapples with the increasing influx of migrants.
