SOS Mediterranée resumes migrant rescues off Libya

 

Humanitarian group SOS Mediterranee announced it has relaunched migrant rescue operations off Libya, seven months after it was forced to abandon efforts using its ship Aquarius.

SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) “are back at sea with a new vessel, the Ocean Viking, to conduct search and rescue activities in the central Mediterranean”, it said.

“As people are still fleeing Libya on one of the most perilous sea crossings in the world, and with almost no available rescue assets present in the central Mediterranean, it has been an imperative for both SOS Mediterranee and MSF to return at sea following the ending of their operations with the Aquarius in December 2018.”

Funded in partnership with MSF, the Norwegian-flagged Ocean Viking has a crew of nine, plus a search and rescue team and medical and other staff.

 

Via France 24