A rescue vessel funded by British street artist Banksy has transferred all migrants on board to safety following a cry for help earlier today.
The Italian coastguard vessel came to the aid of the MV Louise Michel aid after it sent out a distress signal with more than 200 people onboard.
"In view of the danger the situation posed, the coastguards sent a patrol boat from Lampedusa ... which took on board the 49 people in the most fragile condition - 32 women, 13 children and four men," the coastguard said in a statement.
In the past hour, all the remaining migrants on board the MV Louise Michel have been transferred onto Seawatch4, a rescue ship run by the Sea-Watch International charity.
The German-flagged boat said it needed urgent help after lending assistance to a vessel that was carrying at least one dead migrant.
The 31-metre vessel's crew said it was overcrowded and unable to move after encountering another boat attempting to cross the expanse of sea dividing Europe and Africa with 130 people on board.
"There is already one dead person on the boat. We need immediate assistance," the Louise Michel crew wrote on Twitter, saying other migrants had fuel burns and had been at sea for days.
The crew of 10 on the vessel - named after 19th-century French anarchist Louise Michel - had earlier rescued another 89 people from a rubber boat in distress on Thursday.
The motor yacht, formerly owned by French customs, is smaller but considerably faster than other charity rescue vessels - enabling it to outrun Libyan coastguard boats, according to The Guardian.
Its crew is "made up of European activists with long experience in search and rescue operations" and is captained by German human rights activist Pia Klemp, who has also captained other such rescue vessels, the paper reported.
#LouiseMichel just transferred all remaining guests onto #SeaWatch4, who now have about 350 people on board. It's not over: We demand a Place of Safety for all survivors, now. pic.twitter.com/KjUEG6yp4A
— LouiseMichel (@MVLouiseMichel) August 29, 2020
Banksy's involvement in the rescue mission goes back to September 2019 when he sent Ms Klemp an email asking how he could contribute.
Painted in hot pink and white, the Louise Michel features a Banksy artwork depicting a girl in a life vest holding a heart-shaped safety buoy.
Thousands of people are thought to have died making the dangerous trip across the Mediterranean to flee conflict, repression and poverty in Africa and the Middle East.
