The ship Open Arms, which carries out search and rescue operations in the central Mediterranean, transported more than two hundred migrants to Sicily on Thursday, after securing the approval of the Italian authorities, the Spanish non-governmental organization of the same name informed via Twitter.
The migrants, who were aboard small boats, were rescued in various operations at the end of March.
The Italian authorities had already picked up some of the migrants with health problems, the NGO clarified. The remaining 209 people were evacuated to Potsalo, near the town of Ragusa.
NGO ships are now practically the only ones carrying out rescue operations in the Mediterranean as they try to reach Europe in small, often anything but sailing vessels, departing mainly from Libya. The sea route of the central Mediterranean is considered extremely dangerous.
More than 1,200 refugees and migrants died in 2020 in the Mediterranean, the vast majority on the main sea route, according to the International Organization for Migration.
NGO ships are saving hundreds of lives, but some European politicians have been accused for years of playing the role of traffickers. The EU remains divided over how to deal with the problem after the refugee and migrant crisis broke out in 2015.
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