"The international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)  has resumed  search, rescue and medical aid operations in the central Mediterranean Sea, between Africa and Europe, and conducted its first operation on March 23. MSF's first operation for 2016 occurred yesterday April 23 with the Dignity 1 accepting a transfer of 308 rescued people (205 men, 80 women, 23 children), mainly Eritrean, from a boat of the Italian Coast Guard. The ship, which has the capacity to take on board 400 rescued people and has a crew of 16, including experienced medical staff, will be proactively positioned in the waters north of Libya, and actively searching for boats in distress.  
Due to the  lack of safe and legal alternatives for people to flee and seek protection, the deadly stretch of water between Libya and Italy, which in 2015 claimed the lives of 2,892* men, women and children, is now almost the only way for thousands to reach European shores and it is already as busy as ever."