On Tuesday (October 25), the crew of the Humanity 1, a private rescue ship, operated by the organization SOS Humanity, confirmed the crew had carried out two rescue missions on Monday (October 24). There are 180 people now on board, confirmed the crew in a tweet, after rescuing first 113 people and then a boat carrying 22 people.

Over the weekend, they had already brought 45 migrants on board following a nighttime rescue. Then later on Monday, they found "113 people [on] an unseaworthy rubber dinghy in distress." This group, according to a tweet from the organization, added that there were three women and one baby on board that boat.

Later on Monday evening, the crew found another 22 people on a rubber dinghy. Water was beginning to enter their boat, said the crew, and they brought them on board Humanity 1 as well.

SOS Humanity

On Tuesday morning, the organization tweeted they now have 180 people on board. The majority of the group are male, confirmed SOS Humanity. The rescues, said the group, took place in international waters between Malta and Libya.

The current search operation, began last week on October 19 when the Doctors without Borders MSF operated ship, Geo Barents, handed over active search operations to SOS Humanity and began heading north with 293 migrants on board to find a safe port in which to disembark. They disembarked over the weekend in the Italian port city of Taranto.

The NGO SOS Humanity began conducting search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean in 2015 under the auspices of SOS Mediterranée. However, according to their website, on January 1 this year, they set up operations independently of the European network and sent their own ship, the Humanity 1, into service in August 2022.

As well as search and rescue operations, the organization works to raise awareness about what is going on along the Mediterranean migration route and campaigns to change policy at a German and European level.