ABOARD THE SEABIRD (AP) — An Italian offshore supply vessel on Saturday rescued 65 migrants, including women and children, fleeing Libya to Europe on a crowded, wooden boat. The migrant boat was drifting after its engine stopped working and was spotted by the Seabird, an NGO monitoring aircraft flying over the central Mediterranean. A Libyan coast guard vessel arrived on the scene shortly afterward to inspect the empty boat. So far this year some 44,000 people have reached European shores by crossing the central Mediterranean from Tunisia and Libya, often at the hands of smugglers who put them on unseaworthy boats. There were also more than 1,100 deaths recorded by the IOM in the Central Mediterranean this year.

Source: thestar October 02, 2021 22:14 UTC