NGOs have revealed an increase in illegal immigration from Libya in the past days, after rescuing dozens of migrants heading to European shores.
The illegal immigration crisis in Libya has returned again, and this time, after the announcement of the “Viking” ship that it has rescued 118 illegal immigrants, who fled Libya. The ship said it was awaiting the authorities’ permission to disembark the fleeing immigrants in a safe port.
SOS Mediterranee, which operates the ship, confirmed that it had submitted “three requests” to Italy and Malta to allocate a safe port for disembarking the immigrants, noting that it had not received any response, according to a spokeswoman for the organization who spoke to Agence France-Presse.
This was not the only rescue operation during this period. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced a few days ago that 93 immigrants were rescued, including a woman who gave birth to a baby on a rubber boat, while 6 immigrants had died before the rescue off the Libyan coast.
Meanwhile, the ship “Mary June” announced another operation, in which the Italian authorities had rescued 43 immigrants, including women and children, who were about to drown off the coast of Zuwara.
In exchange for the never-ending rescue operations, NGOs continue to affirm that Libya is not a safe country for immigrants, and regretted that the Libyan Coast Guard intercepted migrant boats and returned them to Libya.
