by Andrea Crossan

Wealthy American businessman Christopher Catrambone and his wife Regina have set up the first privately-funded search and rescue operation in the Mediterranean Sea. "We were out for three months last year and we were able to save 3,000 people," he says. The crossing between North Africa and the Italian island of Lampedusa can be a treacherous one.

In 2014, the UN refugee agency estimates that 207,000 people attempted to cross the Mediterranean and it estimates that 3,419 migrants died making the crossing. That's approximately one of every 60 people. And so the Catrambones set up the Migrant Offshore Aid Station.

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Source: http://www.pri.org/