Open Arms asks for an urgent port due to bad weather, after rescuing 110 migrants

The Spanish NGO Open Arms today urgently requested a port to disembark before the imminent arrival of bad weather and after transferring his sailboat, the Astral, to the 110 migrants which he had put to safety overnight in several life rafts in the central Mediterranean, near the territorial waters of Libya.

The head of mission, Gerard Canals, explained in a video message on board the Astral that the Tunisian Coast Guard had asked the 110 migrants to board the ship, after several of them had thrown into the sea upon arrival in fear of being returned to Africa. “We ask the authorities to allow us to disembark urgently before the conditions worsen. meteorological conditions”Canals has urged in view of the forecasts that storms will form in the coming days.

The head of the mission explained that last night the sailboat located a barge in terrible conditions with about 110 people and, after distributing the life jackets, the weight of the filtered water caused the boat to capsize and its occupants fell into the sea. “Very hard work to recover the shipwrecked from the water in three life rafts of the Astral. We do not know if any life has been lost. Everyone knew that this would come to pass. Denial of aid”, has previously denounced the founder of the NGO, Oscar Camps, on social networks.

They jumped into the sea not to be returned

Following the arrival of a Tunisian Coast Guard boat, some migrants jumped into the sea to avoid being returned to Africa and the aid workers from the Astral rescued them and now they are all on board the sailboat.

In addition, the ocean vikingof the NGO SOS Méditerranée, sails with 296 people -including an injured person who has been evacuated by the Italian Coast Guard-, also waiting for the European authorities to grant him a port in which to disembark a week after the first rescue.

Related news

The World Organization for Migration (IMO) today reported a search operation off the Tunisian coast to locate 76 missing migrants from a ship that departed from the Libyan town of Zouara.

Italy is the only country where humanitarian ships disembark immigrants in the central Mediterranean and so far this year and until this Tuesday, May 24, 17,863 migrants have arrived on the country’s shores, compared to 13,765 who did in the same period last year, according to data from the Italian Ministry of the Interior.