Migrants, more landings. The new year began just like 2023. In the last 12 months, the increase in arrivals was +50%, according to the Ministry of Interior. A trend that seems to be confirmed on the first day of 2024. Immediately after midnight on December 31st, there were two arrivals in Lampedusa, totaling 91 people. A Frontex patrol boat rescued the two small boats that left Sfax in Tunisia. On board the vehicles were 44 people from Guinea and Gambia and 47 from Mali, Guinea, Syria and Sudan. After medical triage at the Favarolo pier, everyone was taken to the hotspot in the Imbriacola district. So far, 981 migrants, including 77 unaccompanied minors, are guests of the island's hotspot. At the request of the Prefecture of Agrigento, in consultation with the Ministry of the Interior, two transfers are planned with scheduled ferries in the morning and evening with a total of 650 people. The first 350 are already in the port to board the motor ship that will arrive in Porto Empedocle in the evening.
Meanwhile, the ship “Ocean Viking” belonging to the NGO SOS Mediterranee remains detained in the port of Bari. The ship landed in the Apulian port on December 30 to enable the disembarkation of 244 people rescued in the Libyan search and rescue area. “The Italian authorities accuse Ocean Viking,” explains the NGO, “of not following the instructions to proceed immediately and directly to the assigned safe place.” Let us assume that our alleged non-compliance consists of a small change after the Report of a dangerous situation with at least 70 shipwrecked people occurred just 15 nautical miles away. However, the rescue would not have taken place because “the updated position of the ship in distress shortly afterwards showed that the ship in distress was 60 nautical miles further north. At this point, the Ocean Viking was no longer able to provide immediate assistance.” resumed its route towards the port of Bari, which was reached without delay.” “If compliance with international maritime law is a crime, are We are guilty,” says Anita, search and rescue coordinator on board the Ocean Viking, emphasizing that “we are paying for this small deviation with the second arrest in two months.”
54 people arrived in Civitavecchia on Sunday, all aboard the Open Arms ship. The port in Lazio had been allocated by the authorities given the terrible weather and sea conditions. However, the arrival in Ravenna of the Geo-Barents ship of the NGO Doctors Without Borders, which rescued 336 migrants, and whose port of disembarkation in Romagna was postponed to January 3rd. The arrival, originally scheduled for Tuesday, was delayed due to poor sea conditions. Of the migrants on board, 34 are minors, 27 of whom are unaccompanied. They will all be housed in the sports hall, where health laboratories and rooms have been set up for medical staff, the Italian Red Cross, the police headquarters and the community's social services. Finally, an incident in the port of Roccella Ionica remains to be clarified, in which a 10-meter-long single-masted boat used to disembark migrants suddenly caught fire for reasons that are still unclear.
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