Proactiva Open Arms

A ship transporting almost 200 tons of food to Gaza left a port in Cyprus early on Tuesday in a pilot project to open a new sea route for aid to a population on the brink of famine.

The charity ship Open Arms sailed out of Larnaca port in Cyprus, towing a barge containing flour, rice and protein.

Greece rescued 18 migrants and recovered the bodies of two people, a woman and a man, close to a rocky shore on the island of Lesvos on Wednesday, the coastguard said.

A rescue operation is underway to assist dozens of migrants on a sailboat reported in trouble off the southern coast of Greece, authorities said Friday, amid a rise in migration to the Mediterranean country.

59 migrants have drowned after a boat capsized off the coast of Greece. 100 people were rescued, but it is not clear how many migrants were on the boat.

The boat sank off the Peloponnese peninsula, reported the Greek coast guard. This is the worst migrant incident in Greece this year.

The non-governmental organization "Proactiva Open Arms" announced that it received those shocking photos from eyewitnesses, not wanting to reveal their identity, noting that the photos show people who tried to reach the EU via a deadly route, across the Mediterranean.

One woman died and another two were rescued from the sea off the eastern Greek island of Lesvos Friday, in an incident involving an inflatable dinghy carrying Somali migrants.

Greece's coast guard said 24 migrants who were located safe on shore early Friday told authorities that three women in their party had fallen into the sea as the boat approached Lesbos, and were still missing.

Europe's coast guard agency said on April 12 it was looking for a dinghy believed to be carrying dozens of migrants when it went missing after setting sail from Libya for Italy.

The U.N. refugee agency told AFP it was "very worried" about the fate of what could be 85 migrants lost in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is seriously concerned by the Italian Government's decision to approve by law the imposition of fines on ships rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean.

Malta announced today that it has been agreed that 64 migrants rescued in Libyan waters 10 days ago to be allocated to four EU countries, according to the BTA. 
    Malta has specified that migrants will be allocated to Germany, France, Portugal and Luxembourg.

Some 117 migrants who left Libya in a rubber dinghy two days ago are unaccounted for, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Jan. 19, after three people were rescued from the vessel after it sank in the Mediterranean.