Rescue ship with 800 migrants on board seeks safe landing in Italy
Migrants were picked up from boats in distress in the Mediterranean, German rescue charity Sea-Eye says
04 November 2021 - 17:39
byagency staff
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African migrants rescued in 2013. File photo: REUTERS
German rescue charity Sea-Eye said on Thursday it had asked Italy for a safe port to disembark some 800 migrants it rescued from boats in distress in the central Mediterranean.
The charity vessel SEA-EYE 4 took onboard another 400 people from a wooden boat on Wednesday night in the seventh rescue operation since it set sail in mid-October, bringing the total to about 800, Sea-Eye said in a statement.
It said Rise Above, another rescue ship operated by NGO Mission Lifeline, reached the split-level wooden boat first, finding several migrants in the water without life jackets, at least one of whom had to be resuscitated.
SEA-EYE 4 — a larger vessel — arrived shortly afterwards and took all the migrants onboard.
“A state of emergency is now in effect on the SEA-EYE 4. Any delay by the authorities [on port access] endangers the health and lives of the rescued people and our crew,” the Sea-Eye statement said. “Sea-Eye has already asked the rescue co-ordination centre in Rome for the assignment of a safe port and the German Foreign Office for urgent assistance.”
Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese reiterated Italy’s frequent calls for other countries to share responsibility for migrants crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa.
“These people have to be rescued but it is enormously unfair that it should only be Italy [just] because it’s the country of first landing in Europe,” she said at the presentation of a protocol to help Afghan refugees.
The EU has tightened asylum rules and its external borders since more than 1-million refugees and migrants reached Europe across the Mediterranean six years ago, and it has cut deals with Turkey and Libya for people to stay elsewhere along the global routes.
Sea-Eye said its ship was heading to Italy’s far southern island of Lampedusa as it awaits assignment to a safe port. Lampedusa is one of the main landing points for people trying to get into Europe from Africa.
So far this year, 53,836 migrants have arrived in Italy, according to interior ministry data, up from 29,267 in the same period last year.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Rescue ship with 800 migrants on board seeks safe landing in Italy
Migrants were picked up from boats in distress in the Mediterranean, German rescue charity Sea-Eye says
German rescue charity Sea-Eye said on Thursday it had asked Italy for a safe port to disembark some 800 migrants it rescued from boats in distress in the central Mediterranean.
The charity vessel SEA-EYE 4 took onboard another 400 people from a wooden boat on Wednesday night in the seventh rescue operation since it set sail in mid-October, bringing the total to about 800, Sea-Eye said in a statement.
It said Rise Above, another rescue ship operated by NGO Mission Lifeline, reached the split-level wooden boat first, finding several migrants in the water without life jackets, at least one of whom had to be resuscitated.
SEA-EYE 4 — a larger vessel — arrived shortly afterwards and took all the migrants onboard.
“A state of emergency is now in effect on the SEA-EYE 4. Any delay by the authorities [on port access] endangers the health and lives of the rescued people and our crew,” the Sea-Eye statement said. “Sea-Eye has already asked the rescue co-ordination centre in Rome for the assignment of a safe port and the German Foreign Office for urgent assistance.”
Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese reiterated Italy’s frequent calls for other countries to share responsibility for migrants crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa.
“These people have to be rescued but it is enormously unfair that it should only be Italy [just] because it’s the country of first landing in Europe,” she said at the presentation of a protocol to help Afghan refugees.
The EU has tightened asylum rules and its external borders since more than 1-million refugees and migrants reached Europe across the Mediterranean six years ago, and it has cut deals with Turkey and Libya for people to stay elsewhere along the global routes.
Sea-Eye said its ship was heading to Italy’s far southern island of Lampedusa as it awaits assignment to a safe port. Lampedusa is one of the main landing points for people trying to get into Europe from Africa.
So far this year, 53,836 migrants have arrived in Italy, according to interior ministry data, up from 29,267 in the same period last year.
Reuters
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