A crew member of MV Open Arms, the search and rescue ship of Proactiva Open Arms, carries a migrant baby before passing it to crew members of MV Aquarius, a search and rescue ship run in partnership between SOS Mediterranee and Medecins Sans Frontieres, during a mid-sea transfer of migrants in the central Mediterranean off the coast of Libya, December 16, 2017. PHOTO: REUTERS
About 120 migrants were aboard the inflatable dinghy at the time, survivors brought ashore in al Hmidiya east of the capital Tripoli.
Sixteen people were rescued.
Also, six EU countries have agreed to take in over 200 migrants stranded on a rescue ship off Malta’s coast, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday, after days of bickering between member states over their fate.
Migrants on stranded rescue ship head for Spain
Each of the member states, which include France, Italy and Portugal, will take “a few dozen individuals” of the 233 migrants on board the Lifeline vessel, Macron said in Rome after talks with Pope Francis.
However, Macron also criticised the German NGO running the ship for contravening “all the rules” by coming to the migrants’ rescue when the Libyan coastguard was already intervening.
“We cannot permanently accept this situation,” he said. “In the end we are playing into the hands of smugglers by reducing the risks of the journey.”
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