Migrant rescue vessel Alan Kurdi rescues 40 migrants off Libya

The migrant rescue vessel Alan Kurdi, operated by Sea-Eye has rescued 40 migrants from a rubber boat in distress about 29 nautical miles off the coast of Libya.

Sea-Eye said that among those rescued were two women, one of which was six months pregnant, as well as three infants aged one, two and four.

"Three people were injured and are receiving medical treatment. One of them has a gunshot wound to his upper arm, which he says was inflicted by Libyan militias. The wounds of the other two seem to be older and from torture in the Libyan ‘Detention Camps," Sea-Eye said. 

The NGO said that the 40 people came from Nigeria, Mali, Congo, Ghana, Liberia and Ivory Coast.

Sea-Eye said the migrants were discovered early on Wednesday morning along with the organisation Proem-Aid.

"After lifejackets had been distributed and the sea rescue coordination centres in Tripoli, Tunis, Rome, Valletta and Bremen had been informed, the Hamburg operations director Barbara Held decided quickly to evacuate the people from the unstable rubber dinghy."

Sea-Eye said that so far it has only received replies from sea rescue coordination centres in Bremen and Malta as well as the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin.

The vessel is currently off the coast of Lampedusa.