Italy: Rescues, disembarkation and seizure of migrant rescue ship

Rome: Over the last few days, three private rescue ships have picked up migrants in the Mediterranean. One of the rescue ships has disembarked migrants in Bari and the other one is on its way to Brindisi. The Mare Jonio ship, which disembarked 69 people on October 18, has been seized by the Italian authorities.

On October 19, the crew of the Sea-Eye 4 rescue ship, operated by the German-based organization Sea-Eye, announced it had rescued 51 migrants from the Mediterranean. On its page on X (formerly known as Twitter), Sea-Eye stated that the people rescued were “tired but relieved.”

The group included 38 men, 12 women and one baby. Twelve of those on board the Sea-Eye 4 are unaccompanied minors, stated Sea-Eye. The on-board doctor, Barbara Held, from the organization German Doctors, said that some of those rescued had to be treated for burns which arise after a mix of fuel and salt water mixes in the bottom of the boats and attacks the skin of those on board.

Held added that there were also several people who had head wounds and headaches. Before being rescued, stated the organization, the 51 people had been at sea for two days and the boat was so tightly packed that they were unable to move.

Some people reported having been tortured in Libyan prisons, stated Held. She said that she felt very sad at hearing the stories of some of the orphans who were traveling alone across the Mediterranean, and also the stories of families who had been torn apart. “What we try to offer them, apart from any medical help is respect, hope and security,” concluded Held.

The Sea-Eye 4 has been told by the Italian authorities that it can disembark the rescued migrants in the southern port of Brindisi, in Puglia. The organization said that getting to Brindisi would take time, as it was 509 sea miles from the position where they had picked up the migrants and they would have preferred to have been offered a port in Sicily instead.

Also on Thursday, the organization SOS Humanity, which operates the ship Humanity 1, disembarked the 88 migrants it had rescued in the Central Mediterranean. On its X page, SOS Humanity stated that “after a three-day crossing, all 88 rescued people on board Humanity 1 were able to disembark in Bari, Italy” also in Puglia.

Those who disembarked Humanity 1 had been picked up on October 16 after they fled Libya “in unseaworthy boats,” stated the organization. Before disembarkation, two people had to be evacuated for medical reasons, according to the crew.

Also on Monday, the crew of the Mare Jonio ship, operated by the private rescue organization Mediterranea Saving Humans, picked up 69 migrants, including a family with three children. On October 18, they disembarked them in the western Sicilian port of Trapani.

But after disembarkation, the ship was seized by the Italian authorities. The captain and shipowner were summoned by the port authorities, who alongside Italy’s police services and financial police notified them that both possible measures of the January 2, 2023 decree law introduced by Italy’s interior minister (Matteo Piantedosi) would be applied: A fine of up to €10,000 and administrative detention for 20 days starting from October 18, the NGO said.

In a statement issued in Italian, Mediterranea Saving Humans said: “Mare Jonio has been heavily sanctioned because it did not follow the instructions coming from the Search and Rescue Coordination Center in Rome, which told us to contact and follow the orders of the so-called ‘Libyan Search and Rescue coordination center.’ In Rome’s opinion, we should have then followed what the Libyan center told us and allowed them to designate us a ‘safe port.'”

It added that the ship had essentially been heavily sanctioned for refusing to hand over 69 women, men, and children that had just been saved from the risk of drowning to militias that would have taken them back to detention camps they had fled from.

“What were we supposed to do, in the eyes of the Italian government that has imposed detention and a fine on us?” asked mission chief Sheila Melosu.

“Were we perhaps supposed to give these people back to their tormentors and torturers? Commit a crime against humanity in violation of international law? I remember that – for having obeyed the order to take people rescued at sea back to Libya – Italian ship captains have been condemned by the Italian justice system, such as in the case of the Asso Ventotto before the Naples court,” she added.

“We firmly support the choice made by our captain and our mission chief,” said Alessandro Metz, from the organization Mediterranea Saving Humans.

“The so-called Libyan Coast Guard is under investigation by the International Criminal Court and has also recently engaged in violent behavior that put the lives of several people at risk. Several of its officers are considered traffickers or their accomplices and Libya is considered by the UN and the European Commission as an unsafe port and country due to numerous human rights violations that its authorities commit daily,” he added.

More than 140,000 migrants have reached Italy by small boats since the beginning of 2023, according to data provided by the Italian Interior Ministry, last updated on October 19.

On October 18, the crew of the Geo Barents rescue ship, operated by the medical humanitariann charity Doctors without Borders MSF, disembarked 63 migrants in the northern Italian port of Genoa. They had rescued migrants from the Mediterranean the previous weekend.

Fulvia Conte from the Geo Barents Search and Rescue team explained that migrants had traveled “1,166 kilometers, [the same distance as traveling from Paris to Rome]” in order to reach safety.