A five-day-old newborn peers out from a pink blanket. His dark, almond-shaped eyes stare directly at the camera, his tiny hand tucked underneath his chin.
His short life has been anything but easy.
He, his twin brother and his mother were among the 6,500 refugees and migrants rescued over 30 hours while attempting to make the treacherous journey across the Mediterranean.
Medecins Sans Frontieres’ ship Dignity 1 and the Spanish humanitarian group Proactiva Open Arms rescued people aboard 15 rubber boats and one wooden boat Monday.
MSF found the twins and their mother aboard one of the boats. The three of them were transferred via Medevac for treatment in Italy, according to a tweet from MSF.
On the same day, MSF, Proactiva Open Arms and crews from the Italian Coast Guard rescued more than 3,000 migrants off the coast of Libya. Most of the rescues took place off the coast of Libya and one was in Maltese waters.
Forty different organizations — including EU’s Marine mission “Sophia” which fights smugglers and Frontex, the European Agency tasked with border security — rescued around 6,500 migrants in a single day, according to the Italian Coast Guard.
The rescued migrants are being taken to Italian ports in Calabria and Sicily.
The number of people plucked from sea on Monday was much higher than the average.
For comparison, the route was used by 2,197 migrants in the week that started August 14, according to the International Organization for Migration. Monday’s rate nearly tripled that weekly amount.