Aug. 6 () –
The rescue ship ‘Geo Barents’ of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has completed this Saturday the disembarkation of the 659 migrants rescued last week “after nine days of long waiting” to receive permission from the authorities in the port of Taranto ( Italy).
“Disembarkation completed! The 659 survivors who remained on board with our team for nine long days are finally safe. We hope they receive the assistance and protection they deserve and need,” the organization said on its Twitter account.
MSF lamented on Friday, in this particular case, that “this prolonged waiting period is one of the longest” that its rescue team has suffered. “We hope that this does not happen again,” the organization has asked.
The NGO recalls that there were more than 150 minors on board, as well as two pregnant women and several babies. At least 17 of the children are between the ages of five and 12. Two of the rescued migrants, MSF regrets, had tried to jump off the ship out of sheer desperation.
Since January, around 875 migrants have perished in Mediterranean waters while trying to reach Europe, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Since 2014, the year of the first census, there is evidence of 20,000 dead or missing.
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