Pakistanis migrants among 190 saved by rescue ship in Italy

Islamabad [Pakistan], March 28 (ANI): Around 200 migrants including people from Pakistan were rescued from a wooden boat approximately 20 hours after they departed from Zawiya in Libya, Geo News reported.

Some 190 migrants were rescued by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) off the coast of Libya on March 24.

The migrants also included people from Bangladesh, Egypt, Eritrea, Syria and Palestine who were rescued from a wooden boat approximately 20 hours after they departed from Zawiya in Libya, Geo News reported.

They arrived at the southern Italian port of Bari on the evening of March 26 aboard the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) vessel Geo Barents.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) is an international, independent, medical humanitarian organisation that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, pandemics, natural disasters and exclusion from healthcare, Geo News reported.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government is forcing migrant rescue ships to dock further and further north along Italy’s coastline, meaning long journeys that raise their operating costs and strain their ability to continue saving lives.

Forcing NGO ships to reach ever-more distant ports increases costs at a time when budgets are stretched by inflation and higher fuel costs following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Geo News reported.

The new docking destinations policy adds to a December decree, which forces NGO ships to request and head to a port “without delay” after each rescue, rather than continue looking for boats in distress.