The Ocean Viking, an ambulance ship chartered by SOS Méditerranée, rescued a total of 126 people during two operations on Saturday in the central Mediterranean, off the coasts of Libya and Malta, the Marseille-based humanitarian NGO announced on Sunday.
In the first rescue, 59 migrants, including one woman and ten minors, were saved from an overloaded white fiberglass boat.
None of the individuals were wearing life jackets, according to the NGO, which noted that the masked pilot of the vessel sped away from the scene after the evacuation concluded.
A second rescue operation involved 67 people on an overloaded wooden boat in danger of capsizing. This took place later on Saturday in the Maltese search and rescue zone as the Ocean Viking was heading towards northern Italy and the “safe port” of Marina di Carrara, designated by Italian authorities. Again, none of the passengers wore life jackets.
In 2024, 2,360 people attempting to reach Europe disappeared or died in the Mediterranean Sea, with the vast majority in the central Mediterranean, one of the world’s deadliest migration routes, according to data from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
Nearly 300 people have already been reported missing or dead since the beginning of 2025.
