NGO rescues more than 270 people in central Mediterraean in Christmas operation

A German NGO said Saturday that one of its migrant rescue ships has picked up more than 270 people from the central Mediterranean Sea in three operations since Friday.

Sea Watch said on its Twitter account that its ship, Sea-Watch 3, helped two inflatables that had run into trouble in the early hours of Christmas Day.

The two dinghies were carrying around 100 and 80 people respectively and were rescued around 59 nautical miles (109 kilometres) off the coast of Libya, a spokesman told AFP.

Sea Watch said its team was now looking after around 270 people in all, after picking up 93 people in a wooden boat in international waters south of the Italian island of Lampedusa on Friday morning.

Sea-Watch 3 set out on its “Christmas rescue operation” on Thursday evening.