More than 50 African migrants rescued from boat in central Mediterranean

More than 50 people were rescued from an overcrowded boat in the central Mediterranean on Friday evening, nine of them children.

It was the second rescue of the day for Italian NGO Organisation Emergency which says it earlier assisted 41 migrants at sea.

Those helped in the second operation were from Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau, Biafra, Senegal, South Sudan, Guinea, The Gambia, and Sudan.

In both cases, the rescue team mobilised after the boats were sighted in international waters within the Libyan Search and Rescue zone.

The groups are heading to Civitavecchia in Italy, several days’ sail from the rescue site, on board the NGO’s Life Support ship.

They are the latest in a constant stream of people from Africa and elsewhere trying to cross the Mediterranean to the European Union in often flimsy boats, in the hope of a better life.