Over 700 Trying To Cross Mediterranean Rescued This Weekend: Aid Group

SOS Mediterranee said that its vessel, the Ocean Viking, had carried out six separate operations in international waters since Saturday.

Rescue ships picked up more than 700 people trying to cross the Mediterranean in makeshift vessels this weekend, mainly off the coasts of Libya and Malta, a migrant aid group said Sunday. The latest figures came as UN migration officials repeated their calls for a fairer mechanism to share out the responsibility of caring for them, rather than leaving it to the Mediterranean countries. SOS Mediterranee said that its vessel, the Ocean Viking, had carried out six separate operations in international waters since Saturday. In the last such intervention, it rescued 106 people off the Maltese coastline after being alerted by German aid group Sea-Watch, said the Marseille-based organisation.