Play store
Humanitarian rescue ship Ocean Viking has rescued 101 migrants in distress in the central Mediterranean, including children and five pregnant women, during two separate operations between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
The vessel, operated by humanitarian organisation SOS Méditerranée, carried out the first rescue in the Libyan search-and-rescue (SAR) zone after receiving an alert from NGO Alarm Phone, the organisation said in a post on X.
An aircraft operated by the European Union border agency Frontex also issued an alert during the operation.
The first boat was carrying 60 people, including 27 men, 21 women and 12 children. Five of the women were pregnant, while four of the children were between one and four years old.
The migrants had spent two days at sea without food or drinking water, according to SOS Méditerranée.
Many of those rescued had suffered burns caused by fuel, the organisation said. When petrol mixes with seawater, a chemical reaction can cause severe burns, particularly among people sitting on the floor of a boat near the fuel.
One pregnant woman was transferred to the Italian island of Lampedusa for medical treatment aboard an Italian Coast Guard patrol boat. Her husband accompanied her.
The second rescue took place early Wednesday in Malta’s search-and-rescue zone after Alarm Phone alerted the crew to another boat in distress with some of its air escaping.
The second boat was carrying 41 people, including 18 men, seven women and 16 unaccompanied minors. They, too, had spent two days at sea without food or drinking water, the organisation said.
Ocean Viking has been instructed to sail to the Italian port of Naples to disembark the rescued migrants.
SOS Méditerranée expressed concern that the lengthy journey could further worsen the vulnerable condition of those on board, particularly the pregnant women.
The organisation linked the long detour to Italy’s Piantedosi decree, introduced in 2022. Under the rules, rescue vessels are generally required to proceed promptly to the port assigned by Italian authorities after completing a rescue operation. They cannot usually conduct additional rescues en route without special authorisation from Rome.
Humanitarian organisations say the policy forces rescue ships to travel to ports far from the search-and-rescue zones, keeping them away from areas where other boats may be in distress for extended periods.
The central Mediterranean remains a major route for migrants seeking to reach Europe from Libya, Tunisia and other North African countries. Many undertake the dangerous crossing in overcrowded, unseaworthy boats.
According to the International Organization for Migration, 1,647 migrants died or went missing in the Mediterranean while attempting to reach European shores during the first six months of 2026, up from 1,035 during the same period in 2025.