The Norwegian rescue vessel saved 37 migrants adrift off the coast of Libya on Sunday, most of them Sudanese nationals fleeing war and hunger. The Ocean Viking, operated by SOS Méditerranée France, responded to distress signals from a rubber boat in international waters after its position was spotted by the Sea-Watch surveillance aircraft, Seabird.
The rescue, cleared by relevant authorities, brought the survivors safely aboard, where they were offered medical and humanitarian care, the organisation said.
Many of those rescued come from Sudan, a country fractured by armed conflict and famine, with over 25 million people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, according to the group.
The operation faced intervention from the Libyan coastguard shortly after it began, with officials ordering the ship to vacate the area.
In a separate incident, SOS Méditerranée France described as “disturbing,” the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (ITMRCC) carried out a medical evacuation late Saturday night, transferring two pregnant women from the commercial vessel Port Fukuoka to the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Later, the Ocean Viking received an alert regarding another boat in distress, roughly 80 nautical miles south of its position. At dawn, the crew located an empty rubber dinghy with no trace of passengers. Deflated life vests and unidentified belongings were found drifting nearby.
SOS Méditerranée said it could not rule out two grim possibilities: that the migrants were forcibly returned to Libya, or that they drowned at sea. The incident underscores once again the grave dangers facing migrants in the Libyan search-and-rescue zone, where protections remain largely absent.
