More than 80 migrants were saved, but two died and three were missing following two sea rescue operations in the Mediterranean off the coast of Libya, said Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) on Sunday.
The non-governmental organization, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said its rescue vessel Geo Barents picked up over 60 people late on Saturday, including unaccompanied children, from a rubber dinghy in distress in international waters off Libya. It also recovered one body, and one of the migrants taken on board died shortly after the rescue.
“Following Italian authorities’ instructions to coordinate with Tunisian authorities, the MSF team then continued to the oil rig where they found 19 people,” said the organization.
The 19 survivors then told MSF staff their boat had started to embark water so they swam to the platform in an attempt to shelter. Three people traveling with them remained on the distressed boat which drifted. MSF said it could not find those three people.
MSF said the Italian authorities assigned the port city of Bari as disembarkation, but the organization said it made requests to Italy to assign a closer port, which the latter rejected.
“Instead of providing crucial assistance as soon as possible to dozens of extremely shocked survivors, who witnessed relatives and fellow travelers died or disappeared at sea, the Italian authorities are forcing them into unnecessary days of navigation,” MSF said.