Aita Mari rescued 40 migrants, including six women and six children aged eight months to four years. They spent 24 hours on their boat just off the Libyan coast.
Among the rescued migrants there was a mother who travelled alone with her two small children, one of the children had autism. Another 61-year-old woman used all her money to get into the boat she was rescued from.
Notably, 17 asylum seekers managed to get away from the Libyan Coast Guard, and were rescued by Maydayterraneo, Alarm Phone said on Twitter on Saturday.
According to the migrant hotline, over 100 people fled Libya but were stopped by the Libyan Coast Guard that ‘abducted’ most of the individuals.
17 individuals jumped into the water fearing they would be returned back to Libya.
“We condemn the cruel return,” Alarm Phone said.
The Spanish humanitarian rescue organisation Maydayterraneo, which operates the ship, said, “we were able to locate the migrants thanks to the light of a mobile phone and their screams in the dark,” noting that “they came from Libya, Sudan, and Syria.
They tweeted that it had been a “complicated rescue” because the boat the 17 people had been traveling on had at least 103 on board, and they were in the process of being returned to Libya by the Libyan Coast Guard when the Aita Mari came near them.
According to the Aita Mari crew, and videos they posted on Twitter. Some of those on board threw themselves into the sea in order to avoid the Libyan Coast Guard. “Two of them had to be monitored in the onboard hospital, but their lives are not in danger,” the tweet concluded.