Rescue ship picks up 200 migrants including 67 minors, in Mediterranean

The migrant rescue ship Ocean Viking has rescued 203 people, including 67 minors, in recent days, its owner SOS Mediterranee said Sunday.

The migrants came from Egypt, Gambia, Libya, South Sudan, Syria and Tunisia, the non-governmental organisation said in comments posted on Twitter. They were rescued in four separate operations since Thursday.

In once rescue in the waters around Malta on Sunday, Ocean Viking picked up 71 migrants who were in an overloaded wooden boat that had embarked from Libya three days earlier, SOS Mediterranee said.

They had used up reserves of food and water and four people "had to be evacuated on stretchers", the group added. Since the start of the year, 886 migrants have died in the Mediterranean while trying to reach Europe, according to figures compiled by the International Organisation for Migration. SOS Mediterranee says it has rescued more than 30,000 people since February 2016.