Open Arms rescues 158 migrants at sea

(ANSA) - Rome, January 28 - Spanish NGO run rescue ship Open Arms has rescued 158 migrants at sea in two separate operations in less than 12 hours, it said Tuesday.
    On Monday night 56 people were picked up in international waters, it said.
    A further 102 were rescued off the Libyan coast on Tuesday morning.
    "On board the Open Arms there are now 158 shipwrecked people saved from a likely death," it said in a tweet.
    "We are the only humanitarians ship in the area," it said.
    Almost 500 people are now seeking a safe port, Open Arms said.
    It was referring also to migrants rescued in the last few days by two other NGO-run rescue ships, the Ocean Viking and the Alan Kurdi.
    On Tuesday the Ocean Viking, with 100 aboard, was assigned Taranto in Puglia as a safe port.
    Most migrants trying to make it to Italy set off from wartorn Libya.
    The renewal of an accord with the Libyan coast guard to pull back migrants to its shores is threatened by the ongoing conflict.
    Human rights groups have described conditions in many Libyan migrant detention centres as resembling concentration camps.