**Emergency at Sea: Migrants Rescued from Stranded Oil Platform**

A critical situation unfolds as migrants risk everything crossing dangerous waters, reminding the world of ongoing humanitarian crises.

Thirty-two individuals, including women and children, have been rescued after spending several harrowing days stranded on an oil platform managed by British Gas in the Mediterranean Sea. The group, trapped off the coast of Tunisia, lacked food and water, leading to a tragic situation where one person reportedly lost their life, as detailed by the migrant rescue charity Mediterranea.

The NGO Sea Watch successfully retrieved all 32 migrants aboard the Aurora ship on Tuesday afternoon; however, confusion surrounded the ship's destination, as no nearby country had allocated a safe port for disembarkation. This delay has raised alarms, as Sea Watch pointed out that European countries had not intervened despite the urgent nature of the situation, with the migrants stranded in international waters straddling Tunisian and Maltese search and rescue (SAR) zones.

It was reported that an NGO monitoring aircraft, Seabird, had initially detected an empty rubber dinghy near the oil platform on March 1. Subsequent distress calls made to Alarm Phone, a dedicated emergency hotline for maritime migrants, revealed that the stranded individuals had been without essential provisions for days. They expressed dire concerns over the precariousness of their health and safety, with one young man stating, "We are suffering from hunger and dying of cold." The group had set out from Libya five days ago when their dinghy capsized during the perilous journey.

The ongoing Mediterranean migrant crisis has been a staggering reality, with over 210,000 attempts to cross the Central Mediterranean recorded in 2023 alone, according to United Nations data. Disturbingly, more than 60,000 have been intercepted and returned to Africa, while almost 2,000 lives have been tragically lost at sea this year.