Italy fines and blocks Doctors Without Borders ship for 60 days after rescuing 191 migrants

Italian authorities fined and blocked the Doctors Without Borders ship, the Geo Barents, for 60 days after docking on Monday in the port of Salerno (south) after having recovered 191 migrants at sea in recent days in various rescue operations.

The accusation is that repeatedly raped the Government’s provisions on the activity of migrant rescue NGOs not to communicate to the bodies responsible for safety at sea on the rescue operations carried out.

It is an “inhumane decision” that “stops MSF’s activity in the central Mediterranean. This is the third time that our ship has been subjected to such an punitive measure of this type for having fulfilled their legal obligation to save lives at sea,” the NGO stated on its social networks.

Among the 191 migrants who landed in Salerno There were three women and 23 unaccompanied minors on board. Several health emergencies occurred on board: around 20 cases of scabies and some migrants suffered burns during the crossing, MSF explained.

The Italian government, headed by the far-right Giorgia Melonihas complicated the tasks of NGOs as part of its migration policy, by forcing them to carry out a single rescue, send them to very distant ports or block ships for up to 60 days if they do not follow its instructions, among other measures.

Meanwhile, the Nadir sailing boat belonging to the NGO Resqship managed to rescue 43 people in danger on a barge that had been located hours earlier by one of the rescue organisations’ planes.

“At the same time, the Doctors Without Borders ship, Geo Barentsis blocked in the port for 60 days by the Italian authorities under the absurd accusation of having violated the law. Any excuse is good enough to block NGOs and prevent them from saving those lives that Italy and the European Union “They would like to be at the bottom of the sea, locked up in concentration camps, abandoned in the desert,” the NGO denounced.

On the other hand, the NGO Emergency ship carried out three rescues in international waters of a total of 158 castaways in a few hours“We are requesting the medical evacuation of two people poisoned by fuel inhalation. The Italian authorities have organised an evacuation by helicopter off Lampedusa, while the safe port they have assigned us is Ancona, which is four days away by sea,” explained Anabel Montes Mier, head of mission for the Life Support ship.

In recent days, the reception centre on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa has had up to 900 migrants, more than three times its capacity.

According to data from the Ministry of the Interior, 40,138 migrants have arrived on Italian shores so far this year, compared to 113,000 in the same period last year.