About 394 migrants were rescued from a dangerously cramped wooden boat in the Mediterranean overnight by two humanitarian rescue ships on Sunday, in an operation that lasted about six hours, a Reuters witness said.
The German and French NGOs (NGOs) send Sea-Watch 3 and Ocean Viking rescued migrants in Tunisian waters 68 km (42 miles) off the North African coast, near oil facilities and other ships.
Sea-Watch 3, which took command of the operation, took 141 of the survivors while Ocean Viking took the rest. The yacht Nadir, from the German NGO ResQ Ship, later provided support.
It was not clear if there were any deaths or injuries among the migrants who were in the wooden boat, which was filled with migrants on deck and inside the hull. The craft took in water and the engine did not work, the Reuters witness said.
Migrant boat departures from Libya and Tunisia to Italy and other parts of Europe have increased in recent months as weather conditions have improved.
According to the UN’s international organization for migration, more than 1,100 people fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa and the Middle East have died in the Mediterranean this year.
Many of the migrants in this latest rescue were seen jumping off the boat and trying to swim to Sea-Watch 3, the Reuters witness said.
The migrants were mainly men from Morocco, Bangladesh, Egypt and Syria.
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