LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (MNA/ITALPRESS) – The migrant rescue charities Sea-Eye and Alarm Phone has rescued some 100 people at sea over the last days, after contacting rescue coordination centres of the boats in distress. However, the Italian authorities has ordered the boat Sea-Eye 4, which rescued 51 people on board a rubber boat in distress on 29 May following a 2am distress call in Malta’s SAR region, to take them to a port in Genoa in the north of the country, rather than assign a southern port. Dr Daniela Klein, on-board doctor on the Sea-Eye 4 for the NGO German Doctors, said most of the rescued people were very exhausted, hypothermic and suffering from seasickness. “Now their condition has improved significantly and all those rescued are at least physically stable and in relatively good condition,” she said. Head of mission Julie Schweickert said: “We expect to arrive there on Sunday – that’s almost four days spent sailing to a distant port. Although there are enough ports of safety in the south of Italy, able to receive people on the move and provide the right services to them, we have to leave the search and rescue zone and cannot respond to further emergencies”. The Italian authorities repeatedly assign harbours with long journey times to civilian sea rescue vessels. Meanwhile, the NGO Alarm Phone confirmed that it is in contact with a group of 65 migrants in distress in the Central Mediterranean. The migrants who fled from Libya, say they have been at sea for more than 24 hours. Alarm Phone said that all authorities are alerted, and urged immediate rescue without delay.(ITALPRESS).
Foto: Sea Eye 4
