This archive report was first published on 26 December 2019.
On Christmas Day, a massive rescue effort was underway in the Mediterranean, with multiple operations taking place off the coast of Spain and Morocco.
According to the Spanish coastguard, a total of 300 migrants were rescued over a two-day period, with some 200 of them rescued on Christmas Day in separate operations.
Among those rescued were 10 people who were pulled to safety just before dawn off the Costa Blanca on Spain's southeastern coast, including eight men, a woman, and a child.
Later that morning, 16 men were rescued from a boat near Torrevieja, while another 12 men were rescued from a dinghy off Xabia, some 45 kilometres up the coast from Benidorm.
On Spain's southern coast, 17 men were found in waters off Cabo de Gata near Almeria, while another man was found floating on an inflatable toy boat in the Motril area, with his friend feared drowned.
Another 39 people reached the shore at Punta Jandia on the southwestern tip of Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands.
There was no immediate information on the nationalities of those rescued.
So far this year, at least 1,250 men, women, and children have died attempting to reach Europe via the Mediterranean, according to the UN's International Organization for Migration.
