×

Our award-winning reporting has moved

Context provides news and analysis on three of the world’s most critical issues:

climate change, the impact of technology on society, and inclusive economies.

More than 200 migrants rescued off Libyan coast, two dead

by Reuters
Monday, 26 June 2017 12:06 GMT

Migrants look at south Italy's coast as they approach on the Vos Hestia ship after being rescued by " Save the Children" crew on the Mediterranean sea off the Libya coast, June 20, 2017. REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini

Image Caption and Rights Information

In total, 229 people were picked up after a Spanish navy ship was dispatched to help the boats struggling to stay afloat

MADRID, June 26 (Reuters) - Two people were found dead as more than 200 migrants adrift in two dinghies off the Libyan coast were rescued by the Spanish navy on Sunday, the Spanish Defence Ministry said on Monday.

In total, 229 people were picked up after a Spanish navy ship was dispatched to help the boats struggling to stay afloat.

After the rescue mission was completed the migrants were transferred to a Swedish ship, which is also part of a wider European response to tackle human smuggling and trafficking networks in the Mediterranean Sea, and taken to Italy.

Half a million people have crossed the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy over the past four years, mainly sub-Saharan Africans who pay smugglers to shepherd them across the desert to Libya, and onward to Europe in unseaworthy dinghies.

An estimated 13,000 of them have drowned.

(Reporting By Jesús Aguado; editing by Emma Pinedo and Pritha Sarkar)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

-->