The rescues took place in international waters off the coasts of Libya and Tunisia, the France-based NGO said.
Earlier in the day, the NGO said that on Thursday it had “rescued 272 people” of 23 different nationalities from three boats in the central Mediterranean, the most perilous maritime crossing in the world for the migrants.
Those rescued included “32 unaccompanied minors, nine babies and five people with disabilities,” said the organization, which is based in Marseille, on the French Mediterranean.
Later Friday, it said it had rescued another 166 people when it “went to the aid of a number of boats in distress.”
Those onboard were evacuated “in coordination with the Italian coast guards in the search and rescue area between Tunisia and Lampedusa.”
The tiny Italian island of Lampedusa, located just 90 miles (145 kilometers) from Tunisia, is the first port of call for many migrants seeking to make the treacherous sea journey to Europe from North Africa.
In total, “438 rescued people are currently on board,” SOS Mediteranee said.
The Ocean Viking was “heading toward Genoa” in northern Italy because the Italian authorities had ordered them to go to the distant port to disembark the migrants, the group added.
At least 2,013 people have died or gone missing so far this year attempting to cross the central Mediterranean, according to the United Nations migration agency, the International Organization for Migration.
That is significantly higher than its figure for the whole of 2022, which was 1,417.
In June, one sinking alone in the western Mediterranean cost the lives of at least 82 people, one of the deadliest incidents involving migrants in the area.
In July, the Italian authorities detained the Ocean Viking for 10 days at Civitavecchia, after questioning the vessel’s safety standards, before finally releasing it. Cyprus police rescued 18 Syrian migrants after their boat started taking on water some 3.5 miles off the Mediterranean island nation’s southeastern coast.
Police said the 11 men, three unescorted minors, one woman and her three children had set sail from Tartus, Syria and were brought ashore aboard a police patrol vessel.
State-run Cyprus News Agency reported that the woman and her children were taken to the hospital after one of the kids had fainted. The migrants’ boat reportedly sank.
The remaining 14 migrants were taken to a reception center on the western fringes of the capital, Nicosia. A 23-year-old man was taken into custody on suspicion of facilitating illegal entry, police said.
The latest rescue comes after police rescued another 97 Syrian migrants aboard two boats over the last 72 hours.
Police said they intercepted on Sunday a 40-foot boat with 57 men, six women and 23 children aboard some 14 miles off the island’s southeastern coast. All 86 people, who departed from Lebanon, were taken ashore by a police patrol vessel and transported to the reception center.
Four men aged between 18-30 were detained, and face charges of facilitating the illegal entry of migrants, police said.
On Saturday, police intercepted another small boat with 11 migrants aboard some six miles off Cyprus’ southeastern tip. The 10 men and one unescorted minor had departed from Lebanon aboard their 11-foot boat, according to police. Three men aged between 31-47 were also detained.
Cyprus’ Interior Ministry had noted an increase in seaborne arrivals of Syrian migrants in recent months, although asylum applications have dropped significantly as a result of government actions to deter such arrivals, especially from sub-Saharan Africa.
According to official figures, asylum applications in June and July reached a combined 1,285 this year – less than a third than the same period last year.
To discourage more migrant arrivals, the Cypriot government decided to exclude migrants who arrived after Jan. 1st of this year from eligibility for relocation to another EU country.
Morocco’s navy rescued nearly 200 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa in flimsy boats off the country’s southern coast and Western Sahara, state media reported.
Including the latest group, at least 518 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa have been brought back to Morocco since August 8, according to an AFP tally based on Moroccan military sources.
Sailors found the latest group, totalling 190, in “waters between Tan-Tan and Dakhla,” a military source told state news agency MAP. Among them were 11 women, MAP said.
Spain’s Canary Islands are only about 150 kilometers (93 miles) off southern Morocco, west of Tan-Tan, which is northeast of Dakhla in the disputed Western Sahara.
The Canary migratory route has experienced a marked upsurge of activity in recent weeks.
Moroccan authorities said they halted 26,000 irregular migration attempts in the first five months of 2023.
In the first six months, 7,213 migrants reached the Canary Islands by boat, Spanish interior ministry figures show.
At least 13 Senegalese died in mid-July when their boat sank off Morocco, according to authorities in Senegal.
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