07/12/2018 (Agence Europe) – Médecins sans frontières and SOS Méditerranée ended on Thursday 6 December the rescue operations of their vessel Aquarius, which has been without a flag for two months. Since the beginning of its operations, which have caused a crisis between Rome and its partners, the Aquarius has saved nearly 30,000 people. Malta had revoked its flag, under Italian pressure, and no other country took over. To date, there are no longer any boats dedicated to rescue in the Mediterranean Sea, according to MSF. The Commission took note of this announcement on 7 December and lamented the number of deaths in the Mediterranean this year - more than 1,741 in the first nine months of 2018, according to IOM. According to it, specific EU operations, including EUNavfor Med Sophia, have saved nearly 700,000 lives. (SP)