Status: 07.11.2021 6:00 p.m.
The 800 migrants on board the “Sea-Eye4” are safe. In the evening, the completely overcrowded ship – after days on the high seas – docked in the port of Trapani in Sicily. The “Ocean Viking”, on the other hand, is still waiting for a safe harbor to be assigned.
After several days at sea, the rescue ship “Sea-Eye 4” has moored in the Sicilian port of Trapani. Most of the more than 800 rescued migrants on board are now to be transferred to other ships for preventive corona quarantine, while around 160 minors, including babies and toddlers, are to be brought ashore to emergency shelters.
The numerous people on board the “Sea-Eye 4” had to endure several days and nights on the high seas because no country wanted to allow the ship to enter a port. After all, the Italian authorities had assigned the rescuers Trapani in western Sicily as a safe haven.
Ship extremely overcrowded
About half of the migrants were rescued from a sinking wooden boat on November 4th, while the other passengers were brought to safety from the sea in separate actions. After the rescue operations, the “Sea-Eye 4” was massively overcrowded; the ship is actually designed for a maximum of 200 passengers.
Sea-Eye representatives criticized the fact that the EU member state Malta had not responded to an emergency signal from the wooden boat in the Maltese search and rescue area. Because there was no signal from Malta, the crew first headed for the Italian island of Lampedusa. The ship of the Regensburg association “Sea Eye” was not allowed to dock there.
German rescue ship “Sea-Eye 4” rescues a total of 800 people from the Mediterranean
daily news 8:00 p.m., November 4, 2021
“Ocean Vikinig” is still waiting for port
The ship “Ocean Viking” operated by the organization SOS Méditerranée with 313 rescued persons is still waiting to be assigned a port. The Maltese authorities canceled the crew on Friday, as SOS Méditerranée spokeswoman Barbara Hohl announced. “Unfortunately, we are in the usual situation: after rescues we have to wait far too long until we are finally assigned a port.”