Migrants still risking Mediterranean's perils as rescues dip
ABOARD THE OPEN ARMS (AP) — While the number of Europe-bound migrants rescued on the main Mediterranean Sea route has dropped off dramatically this summer, hundreds are still risking their lives in hopes of reaching Italy — and still being plucked to safety.
The rescue vessel run by Spanish humanitarian group ProActiva Open Arms picked up more than 200 migrants on Wednesday from several flimsy dinghies that human smugglers had launched from Libya's shores.
Among them was a 9-months' pregnant woman from Ghana who ended up giving birth to a daughter aboard the Open Arms as it patrolled some 25 miles north of the Libyan coastal town of Al Khums.
"She started to labor.