MSF Rescues 800 from Smugglers' Boats in the Mediterranean

Francesco Zizola/NOOR

On August 26, a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) rescue ship, the Bourbon Argos, completed two rescue operations, saving some 800 refugees from smugglers' boats in the Mediterranean Sea. The first boat was a large wooden fishing boat in distress with approximately 650 people on board; the second was a rubber boat first spotted by a Tunisian fishing vessel, carrying about 150 people. After the rescues, the Bourbon Argos began its journey with around 800 people, most of them from Syria, along with people from  Ivory Coast, Mali, Cameroon, Nigeria, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, towards the port of Vibo Valentia in Italy. Read more.