Volunteer lifeguards from Spanish charity Proactiva Open Arms rescued 54 migrants stranded on a rubber dinghy in the Mediterranean Sea off the Italian island of Lampedusa on Tuesday, according to a Reuters witness.
Those rescued were mainly Syrian nationals, the group said. They were later taken to Lampedusa by the Italian Coast Guard.
The central Mediterranean is one of the most dangerous routes for refugees seeking asylum in Europe. Last year, more than 3,100 people died or went missing while attempting to cross the sea to Europe, according to data from the United Nations’ refugee agency.
Open Arms said it had rescued a total of 383 people in the past four days.
On Monday, its search-and-rescue boat Astral assisted 110 people crammed into an overloaded wooden barge, including six women, four children, two elderly men and a person with disabilities.
Speaking on board the Astral, the mission’s coordinator, Esther Camps, said the charity had seen an uptick in the use of precarious iron boats, likely hand-welded in Tunisia, over the past year.
She added this was possibly due to Tunisia’s adoption of a hardline anti-immigration stance, which has prompted many migrants from sub-Saharan Africa to leave the country.
A Reuters photograph showed a rusty iron vessel that appeared to be split in two, with the halves connected by hinges. Camps said it was the first time they had come across such a type of ship and initially thought it had broken in half and would sink.
“Apparently it wasn’t broken, but rather is a new form of manufacture. We suspect it’s because it’s much easier to transport undetected both on land and at sea,” she added.