Over 400 migrants rescued at Christmas await port safety
On Christmas Day (December 25), the ship's crew members rescued 257 migrants from overcrowded wooden boats in the area of operation in international waters off the Libyan coast.
In the early morning of Christmas Eve (December 24), the rescuers saved 93 people including numerous unaccompanied minors from a double-decker wooden boat in distress in international waters south of the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Last week alone, at least 160 people drowned in the central Mediterranean while attempting to flee, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Some 66.482 migrants have disembarked in Italy this year, according to interior ministry data, up from 34.134 in the same period in 2020.
