Sea rescuers from German aid organizations have taken dozens of migrants on board their ships in the Mediterranean. Sea-Watch steered 72 people on the 14 meter long lifeboat aurora the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, where the rescued went ashore on Saturday evening, as the organization announced on the online portal X (formerly Twitter).
Sea-Eye volunteers rescued 114 people sailing on plastic boats in international waters between Malta and Crete within 72 hours, the organization said communicated. Four people on the third boat found were unconscious and were taken care of and stabilized on the rescue ship. It was initially unclear which port the authorities would assign the ship to.
The aurora According to Sea-Watch, the port of Trapani in north-western Sicily was initially assigned by the Italian authorities. In messages about X, the sea rescuers sounded the alarm that the port was inaccessible for the crew due to a lack of fuel and that drinking water was running out. Finally, Sea-Watch announced that it had received permission to bring the migrants to the island of Lampedusa, which was much closer.
For years, migrants have been trying to get to Italy, often in unseaworthy boats, particularly from the coasts of the North African countries of Libya and Tunisia. According to the Italian government, almost 103,000 people have reached the country on boats this year – more than twice as many as in the same period last year. The dangerous crossings repeatedly lead to devastating accidents with many deaths.
The civil sea rescuers are a thorn in the side of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government. Again and again they are assigned ports far away from the search and rescue zone.