Spanish charity assists 54 migrants in central Mediterranean

(Removes extraneous word "Proactiva" from paragraph 1, changes verb "rescues" in headline to "assists" and adjusts paragraphs 1-2 to reflect the migrants were not taken on board)

By Juan Medina

AT SEA OFF LAMPEDUSA, Italy (Reuters) -Volunteer lifeguards from Spanish charity Open Arms assisted 54 migrants stranded on a rubber dinghy in the Mediterranean Sea off the Italian island of Lampedusa on Tuesday, according to a Reuters witness.

The group said it gave the passengers, who were mainly Syrian nationals, life jackets and water after alerting the Italian Coast Guard, which later took them to Lampedusa.

The central Mediterranean is one of the most dangerous routes for refugees seeking asylum in Europe. Last year, more than 3,100 people died or went missing while attempting to cross the sea to Europe, according to data from the United Nations' refugee agency.

Open Arms said it had rescued or assisted a total of 383 people in the past four days.

On Monday, its search-and-rescue boat Astral assisted 110 people crammed into an overloaded wooden barge, including six women, four children, two elderly men and a person with disabilities.

Speaking on board the Astral, the mission's coordinator, Esther Camps, said the charity had seen an uptick in the use of precarious iron boats, likely hand-welded in Tunisia, over the past year.

She added this was possibly due to Tunisia's adoption of a hardline anti-immigration stance, which has prompted many migrants from sub-Saharan Africa to leave the country.

A Reuters photograph showed a rusty iron vessel that appeared to be split in two, with the halves connected by hinges. Camps said it was the first time they had come across such a type of ship and initially thought it had broken in half and would sink.

"Apparently it wasn't broken, but rather is a new form of manufacture. We suspect it's because it's much easier to transport undetected both on land and at sea," she added.

(Reporting by Juan Medina; Writing by David Latona; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Christina Fincher)