A humanitarian organisation named Alarm Phone stated that the Italian Coast Guard had rescued a migrant boat, off the coast of Sicily.
Alarm Phone tweeted on Tuesday that the Coast Guard “rushed to the rescue of the boat, that we reported yesterday overnight.” The 87 migrants who were on board were picked up, and brought to the island of Lampedusa, according to the NGO.
The humanitarian organisation expressed “a feeling of relief that the migrants survived after losing contact with them and considering the deteriorating weather conditions.”
Alarm Phone is affiliated with the non-governmental organisation, ‘Watch the Med’. This NGO was established in October 2014 by a network of activists and representatives of civil society in Europe and North Africa.
In September, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) reported that a total of 9,839 illegal migrants have been rescued off Libya’s coast in 2020. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) called for urgent action to address the “dire situation” of migrants coming from Libya to Europe.
It denounced the violence against migrants who seek safety in Europe. The international organisation also demanded that states “tackle the shocking conditions migrants face in Libya, at sea, and upon their reception in Europe.”