Fifty-four migrants, including young children and a newborn baby, were rescued on Saturday night after spending three days on an abandoned oil rig in the Mediterranean Sea, Spanish non-governmental organisation Open Arms said on Sunday.
The migrants were transferred to the Astral, a ship owned by Open Arms, which on Sunday headed for the Italian island of Lampedusa in the far south of Italy.
According to Open Arms, these people ended up on the oil rig after their inflatable boat sank on Tuesday after leaving Libya. On Friday, one of the women gave birth to a boy right on the platform, and another woman had given birth a few days earlier. The group also included two small children, the organisation said.
Later, the Astral found another 109 migrants, four of whom were in the water. They had also set out from Libya. Among them were ten children. Open Arms provided them with life jackets, and they were then rescued by another ship, the Louise Michel, sponsored by the artist Banksy. According to Open Arms, the former French navy vessel was heading for a safe port in Sicily on Sunday.
People crossing the Mediterranean Sea in fragile boats often seek refuge on oil rigs. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), around 23,000 migrants arrived in Italy by sea by June 1 this year.
