(Rome) Italy on Saturday authorized a humanitarian ship carrying some 800 migrants rescued at sea, including hundreds of minors and five pregnant women, to dock in Trapani, Sicily, German NGO Sea Eye told AFP. .
This authorization to disembark comes just hours after a humanitarian organization delivered emergency relief supplies, including food and blankets, to the boat.
Vessel Sea Eye 4 had already rescued nearly 400 people in distress at sea on Wednesday, when he assisted 400 others on a wooden boat that threatened to sink on Thursday.
There are more than 200 minors including “several children under 10 years old”, and 5 pregnant women on board the Sea Eye 4, said the NGO in a statement, specifying that 200 people had been treated so far on board.
“Our team is working to the limits of what is humanly possible,” Sea Eye President Gordon Isler said before the disembarkation authorization was announced.
THE’Ocean Viking, a ship managed this time by SOS Mediterranean, is also looking for a port to dock with the 314 people it has rescued, bringing to more than 1,100 the number of migrants to disembark in Italy.
Italy is one of the main entry points into Europe for migrants from North Africa, mainly from Tunisia and Libya, from where departures are up sharply compared to previous years.
Nearly 55,000 migrants have landed in Italy since the start of the year, compared to just under 30,000 in 2020, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior.
In accordance with the policy of “closing the ports” of the former Italian Minister of the Interior, Matteo Salvini, other European countries must have agreed to receive a certain number of rescued migrants before the ships are allowed to dock.
For Gordon Isler, “the negotiations on the distribution of the people rescued”, must be carried out after the migrants have disembarked on land.