BARCELONA – Five rescued migrants in need of medical care have been airlifted from a Spanish humanitarian rescue ship sailing in the central Mediterranean Sea and brought to European soil along with the body of a 6-month-old boy, the Italian coast guard said Thursday.
Another 257 rescued migrants and five bodies remain on the Open Arms ship as it waits to be assigned a port for disembarkation.Of the five evacuated, a mother, her child and a man, all in serious condition, were brought to a hospital in Malta, the Italian coast guard said.
The other two women, one who is seven months pregnant, and the baby's body were taken to the Italian island of Lampedusa. In total, 263 migrants who had fled Libya hoping to reach Europe on unseaworthy boats.