SOS Méditerranée’s humanitarian ship, Ocean Viking, rescued 54 people, including 28 unaccompanied minors, off the Libyan coast on Monday.
The rescued persons were found onboard an inflatable boat detected with the help of binoculars in the Libyan search zone, according to a statement by the NGO, headquartered in Marseille, France.
Since 2016, SOS Méditerranée has saved more than 40,000 people, primarily in the Central Mediterranean, the world’s most dangerous migration route.
In 2023, a whopping 3,155 migrants were reported dead or missing after attempting to cross the Mediterranean into Europe, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
Since January, there have been 923 similar reports, the IOM reports.
