The Humanity 1 search and rescue ship discovered a boat in distress on Tuesday morning (May 28) in waters between Tunisia and Italy. The boat had set out from Sfax two days earlier and was carrying 45 people, none of whom had life jackets. Among those on board was a baby girl who was already dead when the NGO ship arrived.

A short time after the first rescue, the Humanity 1 found a second boat with 40 people on board, many of them unaccompanied minors. "The iron boat was drifting in the open sea, unable to manouver and without rescue equipment," SOS Humanity said in a statement. The second boat had also departed from Sfax, it added.

According to the NGO, the Humanity 1 now has a total of 185 migrants on board, rescued over a 24-hour period. Some of them are exhausted and suffering from sea sickness and fuel burns, the group said.

The body of the infant, her mother and 3-year-old sister were evacuated by the Italian coast guard to the island of Lampedusa.

"Our crew held a minute's silence to mourn the death of the baby," SOS Humanity wrote on X.

On Wednesday the ship was still heading for the Italian port of Livorno for disembarkation, despite requests to the Italian Rescue Coordination Center for a closer port.

Ocean Viking rescues 67, assigned to distant port

In separate operations in the Mediterranean 67 people have been rescued in the past two days by the Ocean Viking, run by the charity SOS Mediterranee.

The NGO said it picked up 26 people in a fiberglass boat early on Wednesday morning (May 29) in the Maltese search and rescue zone.

The previous day, the crew rescued 41 people from a wooden boat in distress off the coast of Libya.

The first group to be rescued were mostly Syrians and they included two minors, according to SOS Mediterranee. One person was suffering from hypothermia and several others had injuries from fuel burns.

The Ocean Viking said it had been assigned the port of Ancona on the Adriatic coast to disembark the migrants.

Also read: Libyan coast guard accused of threatening crew of rescue ship in Mediterranean

Italy, Tunisia attempt to block crossings

Tunisia remains the main departure point for people leaving Africa for Europe. Tunisian authorities have stepped up patrols to intercept boats and return the migrants to Tunisia.

Italy has also introduced laws making it harder for non-government ships to operate in the Mediterranean, limiting the number of rescues they can carry out and forcing them to make long detours to bring migrants ashore.

The number of people reaching Italy by sea this year has fallen sharply to 20,000 from more than 48,300 in the same period last year, according to data from the Italian interior ministry.

Meanwhile the Mediterranean Sea crossing remains the most dangerous migration route in the world, according to the UN migration agency, IOM. Since January this year, at least 880 migrants are known to have lost their lives or gone missing on the route, with the actual figure believed to be much higher.

With AFP, EPD