A spokesman for the German humanitarian organization Mission Lifeline said in statements released by the publication Fanpage that the German-flagged Rise Above is in Italian territorial waters and six patients have been evacuated from it in the last few hours.
For its part, the Norwegian ship Ocean Viking remains in international waters, and a spokesman for the rescue group Sos Mediterranee issued an emergency call due to the migrants’ difficult situation. “The inclement weather conditions are hard to endure for those sleeping on deck after waiting 16 days, the longest experienced by survivors aboard the Ocean Viking,” read a note released by that entity.
Faced with such a situation, the document states, “Her health is deteriorating. They desperately need a safe haven.”
On the other hand, according to an official report, the disembarkation of migrants aboard the Norwegian ship Geo Barents, managed by the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) group, ended last Sunday evening in the Sicilian port of Catania.
The permits were granted to 357 vulnerable migrants, particularly women and minors, and those with health problems, and another 215 were denied them after an inspection by the Office of Maritime, Air and Border Health (USMAF).
Previously, using the same selective scheme, the Immigration Office had allowed 144 people to disembark under emergency conditions from the German ship Humanity 1, but refused to disembark 35 people, which the ship’s crew refused to do.
Joachim Ebeling, captain of this ship, rejected the exit order that had also been given to the Geo Barents and pointed out that he would only leave the port of Catania when all the rescued people had arrived there.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi has so far ignored calls for a safe port, applying a closed-ports policy to humanitarian organizations’ ships operating in the Mediterranean, which he accuses of encouraging illegal immigration.
Last Friday, Piantedosi, Defense Minister Guido Crosetto and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini signed a decree according to which this country’s government will only accept the most vulnerable rescued or people with health problems.
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