SOS Méditerranée rescues 50 migrants from wooden boat off Libya, finds 7 dead

The charity vessel Emergencies, operated by SOS Méditerranée, rescued 50 irregular migrants from a wooden boat in international waters off Libya on Monday and recovered the bodies of seven people, the ship's crew told Reuters. The crew said two of those rescued were in critical condition and required emergency medical evacuation because of the risk of drowning. The survivors included 45 men and five women, 29 of them unaccompanied minors. According to information provided by some of the migrants, the group departed from the Libyan coastal city of Zuwara on August 16 and held Somali and Egyptian nationalities. Separately, Spain's southern coast has seen an intense wave of crossings since late July, with tens of thousands of irregular migrants reaching Ceuta, Spain's North African territory, from neighboring Morocco. Most were returned to the nearby town of Fnideq. Rabat put the number of crossings at around 40,000, while Spain reported more than 70,000 crossings recorded.