More than 100 migrants rescued off Libyan coast

Record ID: 163029

  • Title: More than 100 migrants rescued off Libyan coast
  • Date: 3rd January 2017
  • Summary: AT SEA (JANUARY 2, 2017) (REUTERS) INTERIOR OF 'GOLFO AZZURO', A BOAT OF NGO 'PROACTIVA OPEN ARMS' RESCUE SPEEDBOAT NEARING MIGRANT DINGHY NGO MEMBERS HANDING OUT LIFE JACKETS TO MIGRANTS ON DINGY / MIGRANTS SHOUTING MIGRANTS ON BOARD WITH LIFE JACKETS SHOUTING NGO MEMBER LIFTING MIGRANT WOMAN AND PLACING HER ONTO SPEEDBOAT RESCUED MIGRANT CHILDREN WEARING LIFE JACKETS ON SPEEDBOAT SPEEDBOAT CARRYING RESCUED MIGRANTS APPROACHING 'GOLFO AZZURO' / AUDIO OF INFANT CRYING (SOUNDBITE) (English) RESCUED MIGRANT FROM LIBERIA, BOB DI, SAYING: "I was so afraid, I thought that today I'm going to be... to live in this sea. I was afraid. that's why we tried…(indistinguishable)… always call you." MIGRANT WRAPPED IN THERMAL BLANKET SITTING ON DECK OF 'GOLFO AZZURO' / WAVES (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF OPERATIONS FOR PROACTIVA OPEN ARMS NGO, RICCARDO GATTI, SAYING: "Today, we had a rescue in the central Mediterranean of 112 people, seven girls and five children and quite rough sea." MIGRANT CHILD SITTING ON BOAT
  • Embargoed: 18th January 2017 10:10
  • Keywords: migrants rescue Proactiva Libya dinghy Mediterranean
  • Location: AT SEA
  • City: AT SEA
  • Country: At Sea
  • Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0015XIZX3B
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:More than 100 migrants were rescued on Monday (January 2) after drifting for hours in the central Mediterranean when their rubber boat's engine failed.
    The Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms responded to the migrants' distress call and found their dinghy drifting in the choppy waters about 36 miles off the Libyan coast.
    The 112 migrants were rescued by Proactiva lifeguards aboard the former fishing trawler 'Golfo Azzuro' around noon on Monday, and told rescuers their engine stopped working sometime the previous evening.
    "I was so afraid, I thought I thought that today I'm going to be... to live in this sea," said Bob Di, a migrant from Liberia.
    The 112 migrants included two pregnant women and five children.
    A record 5,000 migrants are believed to have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea this year, and figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) show 358,403 migrants and refugees had entered Europe by sea in 2016 up to and including December 21, 2016, and arriving mostly in Greece and Italy.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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