Bigger, better Open Arms charity ship makes its first migrant rescue

Migrants wait in a boat during a search and rescue (SAR) operation by the NGO Proactiva Open Arms Uno rescue boat in central Mediterranean Sea, August, 17, 2022. REUTERS/Juan Medina

ABOARD THE OPEN ARMS UNO, off Tunisian coast (Reuters) - Four times the tonnage of the original Open Arms rescue tugboat and with a capacity to carry up to 1,000 people, the Open Arms Uno made its first rescue on Wednesday, picking up 101 migrants stranded on a wooden boat off the Tunisian coast.

"Sit down, if you don't sit down we don't continue," a crew member shouted to the excited migrants from a speed boat launched from the vessel operated by the Spanish charity Open Arms before all were taken aboard.