Mediterranean Sea: hundreds of migrants rescued in 5 operations

Migrants from sub-Saharan African countries were rescued from unseaworthy dinghies by the NGO Doctors Without Borders(MSF) on Thursday. Those women, children and men were attempting to reach Europe’s southern coasts.

On Thursday, the NGO Doctors without borders rescued more than 450 people.

Women and unaccompanied children from sub-Saharan African countries formed the majority of the rescued attempting to reach Europe's southern coasts.

In five different operations in the southern Mediterranean Sea, the rescue workers retrieved migrants from unseaworthy dinghies. Among them, 458 are now on the GeoBarents, a Doctors Without borders ship.

Hellish journey

"We found these dinghies completely overloaded in a state of distress," said Fulvia Conte, deputy head of MSF search and rescue activities. She then added, "They had all left Libya this morning, so they had spent many hours at sea and when we rescued them some of them told us 'we came from the desert, we come from hell."

The long journey of these migrants is not over yet. Authorities in southern European countries still have to provide a port of destination for them to be disembarked.

According to the European Council, 561 949 lives have been saved in the Mediterranean since 2015.