ABOARD SEA-WATCH 3, Mediterranean:
German NGO Sea-Watch mentioned on Friday it had rescued practically one hundred migrants in the Mediterranean overnight, a lot of of whom had been injured, some with serious “fuel burns” – chemical burns triggered by exposure to gasoline mixed with seawater.
Migrant boat departures from Libya and Tunisia to Italy and other components of Europe have improved in current months with greater climate.
According to the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 1,one hundred men and women fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa and the Middle East have perished this year in the Mediterranean.
Late on Thursday, the vessel Sea-Watch 3 rescued 33 migrants from two boats which had been intercepted by the Libyan coast guard in the search and rescue zone of the Mediterranean assigned to Malta, the NGO mentioned.
Among them had been nine unaccompanied minors, of which 3 had been really little children, and a lady who was seven months pregnant. The rescued came from South Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco, Ivory Coast and Mali, according to a Reuters witness aboard the Sea-Watch 3.
Many migrants had been currently on a coast guard ship but jumped into the sea when they saw the NGO vessel strategy, according to the witness. All had been brought onboard the Sea-Watch 3 by its crew.
In a second operation at dawn on Friday, Sea-Watch 3 rescued more than 60 men and women from an overcrowded wooden boat inside the Libyan search and rescue zone. Most of the rescued had been Libyans, the Reuters witness mentioned.
Among the migrants getting treated for their injuries on board the Sea-Watch 3 on Friday had been a father and son who suffered burns just after a fire broke out on their boat, whilst other people suffered fuel burns.
“As it is often the case with such boats, many of the people suffered fuel burns, some of them severe,” Sea-Watch mentioned in a statement.
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