Teams of doctors, nurses and psychologists working for the local health agency and hospitals in Genoa "have been alerted for the support of migrants rescued by the ship Humanity 1," which is expected to arrive in the northwestern Italian port city of Genoa on Friday, August 16.

Operations at the port will be coordinated by the 118 national medical emergency service.

The 199 rescued migrants reportedly hail from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Yemen, Syria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Ghana, Gambia, Nigeria and the Palestinian Territories.

Further NGO rescues in Med

Meanwhile, a reported 64 migrants reached the port of Ortona in Abruzzo on board the Life Support rescue vessel, which is operated by medical NGO Emergency, on Tuesday, August 13.

They had been rescued in two separate operations in the Maltese SAR (search-and-rescue) zone in the Central Mediterranean.

The rescuees include a woman, three accompanied minors and another seven unaccompanied minors; one of the unaccompanied minors had to be evacuated from the Life Support earlier as he fell unwell.

No safe ports in Libya

Some of the rescued migrants told Life Support team members that there are "no safe ports in Libya."

Miriam Bouteraa, a cultural mediator on board the Life Support, recalled some of the harrowing tales the migrants told her:

"I think in particular about the story of a Syrian boy which shows how Libya is not, and cannot be considered, a safe port of destination after a rescue operation at sea," Bouteraa explained.

"This boy told us he endured inhuman and degrading abuse in Libyan detention centres and that he saw and experienced first-hand every type of violence, and this is why the first thing he wants to do in Europe is to denounce what is happening in the country."

She added that the boy's dream is to study medicine here in Europe, "and we can only hope for the best for him and all the other people who were rescued and who could finally reach the mainland today."