Rescue ship picks up over 200 migrants in Mediterranean

Rescue Ship of migrants Ocean Viking has rescued around 200 people, including 67 children said the owner SOS Mediterranee on Sunday.

The non-governmental organization said in a comment posted on Twitter that the migrants came from Egypt, Gambia, Libya, South Sudan, Syria and Tunisia. Once rescued from the water around Malta on Sunday, Ocean Viking took 71 foreigners aboard a wooden canoe from Libya three days earlier, the SOS Mediterranee reported.

They were rescued in four separate operations since July 1.

Migrants trying to reach Europe

Since the beginning of the year, around 886 migrants have lost their lives in the Mediterranean while trying to reach Europe, according to figures compiled by the International Organization for Migration.

According to the SOS Mediterranee, it had rescued more than 30,000 people since February 2016.

Workers have been travelling through the Mediterranean for nearly a week to rescue immigrants from North Africa in many small, often overcrowded vessels heading for the EU.

On the evening of July 3, the United Nations Refugee Agency in Libya reported that Libyan guards had taken more than 120 people from the Mediterranean Sea back to Libya.

The 43 immigrants were also reported missing on Saturday after a boat accident off the coast of Tunisia. Their boat was wrecked as they tried to cross from Libya to Europe, according to a spokesman for Tunisian Red Crescent.

Casualties in the last few months

More than 40 people died when a boat sank off Tunisia’s coast in April. On March, 39 died off the coast of Sfax. 60 were killed when a boat sank last year in June. Almost 19,800 migrants reached Italy since the beginning of the year.

Since 2014, more than 20,000 immigrants and refugees have died at sea while trying to reach Europe from Africa.

More than 17,000 of those in the Central Mediterranean are described by the UN as the world's most dangerous migration route.

In the last few years, Libya has emerged as a major migrant destination. Libya-based human traffickers are opening up ships, many of which are small rubber boats or violent fishing boats, full of immigrants hoping to reach the European coast for asylum.