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The rescue ship ‘Louise Michel’ has denounced this Sunday that it is being held by the Italian authorities in the port of Lampedusa for “violating the new immigration law”, without receiving any further details in this regard, while the 180 migrants who disembarked there has saved in the last few days.
Those responsible for the boat — financed by the street artist Banksy — have denounced on their Twitter account that they received the verbal detention order early Saturday morning, in the middle of the disembarkation process.
“Twenty-four hours later, we still have not received a written justification for the retention, while dozens of ships are in danger around us,” according to their crew members on Twitter.
As those responsible for the ‘Louise Michel’ understand, the retention would have been given by violating Italian regulations that require rescue ships to immediately go to a safe port at the time of receiving the first admission by the Italian authorities. The ship, confirmed by her crew on her Twitter account, carried out several additional rescues despite having received an order to disembark, given the seriousness of the situation in the area.
“The European authorities are fully aware of the people in danger in their rescue and salvage waters. Yet they prevent this ship from leaving port and providing assistance. Lives like those lost in shipwrecks are neither an accident nor a tragedy They are looking for it to happen,” lamented the organization.
Nearly 3,000 migrants have been rescued or have reached the Italian coast since Friday, according to official estimates collected by the RAI chain.
SOS MEDITERRANÉE REPORTS THREATS WITH FIREARMS FROM THE LIBYAN COAST GUARD
On the other hand, the NGO SOS Mediterranée has reported in recent hours that a Libyan coast guard patrol threatened the crew of its rescue ship ‘Ocean Viking’ with firearms during a rescue operation in international waters.
According to the organization’s account, a Libyan patrol boat interfered in the rescue of 80 migrants in danger and began to chase the ‘Ocean Viking’. SOS Mediterranée denounces that the coast guard “fired shots into the air” to move their ship away from the area
The Seabird 2 plane, operated by the NGO Sea Watch, captured the entire incident, which ended with the forced return to Libya of the 80 intercepted migrants.
SOS Mediterranée denounces that this is the second time this year that its crew has witnessed a threatening maneuver by the Libyan coast guard during a rescue operation. The first one took place in January, but in that case, the migrants did reach the rescue ship.
