ACTIVISTS saved the lives of more than 20 children from an overcrowded rubber boat in distress in the central Mediterranean Sea on Thursday night.

The Humanity 1 rescue ship found the rubber boat adrift in international waters after the activist-run distress hotline organisation Alarm Phone alerted them to the distress case in the morning.

The ship’s crew had already rescued 28 people from a small wooden boat in the same area earlier that day.