Dozens of migrants have been rescued from an unused oil rig in the Mediterranean Sea, the German RESQSHIP organization said Thursday. In a second rescue operation, the crew picked up another 43 migrants in Tunisian waters. They were all taken to Lampedusa.
The group of nearly 50 migrants had taken shelter on the platform to escape a storm, with their situation further underscoring the many perils of irregular crossings on the Mediterranean from North Africa to Europe.
The emergency was first picked up by the migrant charity Alarm Phone, estimating the number of people stuck on the "Didon" rig to be at 47. The oil rig is situated within Libya's search and rescue zone.
A speed boat operated by Libya's coast guard reportedly arrived during the rescue operation but did not disrupt the proceedings once migrants were being transferred, according to the RESQSHIP NGO.
Migrant aid groups focusing on operations in the Mediterranean Sea, including RESQSHIP, have documented the Libyan coastguard obstructing rescue missions in the past — including by opening fire on their vessels.
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NGO rushes to another rescue
After completing the operation at the oil rig, the RESQSHIP crew said it had to rush to another incident at sea, rescuing a further 43 people in Tunisian waters in close coordination with Tunisian authorities.
RESQSHIP board member Lina von Dobschütz told the German dpa news agency that 2026 has been the "deadliest [year] since records began" for migrants attempting to weather the dangerous crossing to reach the EU.
"The fact that we had to provide assistance on three consecutive missions tonight only serves to highlight just how urgently our work is needed along the refugee routes," she was quoted as saying.
All rescued migrants were taken to the closest port on the Italian island of Lampedusa.
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High volume of emergency rescue in Med
Earlier in the week, Italian authorities had rescued 58 people from a distressed dinghy about 150 kilometers off the coast of Lampedusa; during the same operation, they recovered 19 bodies of people who are believed to have died of hypothermia during the journey, although their exact cause of death remains under investigation.
The migrants were believed to have departed from the Libyan coast, the Italian coast guard said.
According to the UN, more than 1,100 people have died or gone missing last year on the route from North Africa to Europe; the actual number of fatalities, however, is believed to be much higher, as many deaths are believed to go unreported.
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with dpa