More than 40 migrants in distress on a rubber dinghy were rescued in January by the Ocean Viking crew in international waters off the coast of Libya, as they attempted to reach the Italian island of Lampedusa. This was the first rescue of the year carried out by the ship operated by SOS Mediterranee.

The migration route from North Africa to Southern Europe is considered one of the world's most dangerous. According to the International Organization for Migration, nearly 24,500 people have died or disappeared crossing the Mediterranean in the past decade.

In the first six months of 2025,30,060 refugees and migrants arrived in Italy by sea — a 16 percent increase compared with the same period in 2024, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

These arrivals have occurred amid a broader trend of European countries tightening immigration controls. In December, European Union member states approved stricter immigration policies. These include opening return centers outside the EU for rejected asylum-seekers and imposing harsher penalties on migrants who refuse to leave, as reported by Agence France-Presse.