Ship Rescues 30 More Migrants Off Libya

Migrants disembark from an Italian Coast Guard ship at a dock in Palermo, Italy on June 19, 2017. 1,096 migrants, including 751 men, 160 women (11 of them pregnant) and 185 minors, were brought ashore. Police and Italian Red Cross members were present at the scene. (Credit Image: © Antonio Melita / Pacific Press via ZUMA Wire)

The humanitarian ship Ocean Viking has rescued another 30 people from a boat in distress off the Libyan coast, bringing the total number of migrants aboard the rescue vessel to 125.

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Last month, the Ocean Viking brought 176 migrants to the port city of Taranto. A couple of weeks later, it brought around 100 more migrants to a Sicilian port. The government allowed those dockings after months of legal and political wrangling over migrant ships in Italy. The country had previously denied safe harbor to rescue ships under the former hardline interior minister, Matteo Salvini.

Greece’s conservative government has announced plans to overhaul the country’s migration management system, replacing existing open camps on the islands with detention facilities and moving 20,000 asylum seekers to the mainland over the next few weeks.

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