The German private rescue boat Sea-Watch 3 picked up about 120 migrants during three rescue operations in the central Mediterranean on Thursday and early Friday morning.
42 migrants were rescued from a boat in distress in the Maltese rescue area at 4 a.m. on Friday, Sea Watch reports on Twitter. According to the NGO, the Maltese authorities were warned of the boat on Thursday afternoon but “refused to initiate the rescue”.
In the afternoon, migrants, many of whom were children, contacted Alarm-phone on, a migrant helpline for distress boats. Alarm-phone on publicly shared their GPS position on Twitter, adding: “We have informed the Maltese authorities and demand immediate rescue. Weather conditions are dangerous and night is coming. Don’t let them drown!”
This afternoon we were alerted by 41 people on a boat in distress in Maltese #SAR. They are fleeing from #Libya, among them many children. We informed authorities of #Malta and demand immediate rescue! Weather conditions are dangerous and night is coming. Don't let them drown! pic.twitter.com/DKSPew3ELO
— @alarmphone (@alarm_phone) January 9, 2020
The rescue of 42 people on Friday morning brought the total number of migrants aboard Sea-Watch 3 to approximately 120.
On Thursday, Sea-Watch 3 picked up 60 migrants in distress at sea, 24 nautical miles off the Libyan coast. Later Thursday night, an NGO came across 17 more migrants in distress. Sea Watch reports that its Moonbird reconnaissance aircraft also detected “multiple incidents of distress” and that it witnessed other boats that had been intercepted by Libyan Coast Guard forces and returned to Libya.
The organization, which launched its last search and rescue mission on 30 December, said that relatively good weather conditions, as well as the deteriorating situation in Libya, are now causing more people to make dangerous crossings of the Mediterranean Sea.