Thirty-three migrants have finally touched the mainland of Lampedusa and abandoned the sea in which they risked their lives, 248 will do so by tomorrow evening in Salerno.
The German ship Louise Michel and MSF's Geo Barent have received the 'place of safety' from Italy to dock and disembark the 282 rescued people, including many unaccompanied minors.
The Louise Michel, which is small in size, was in an emergency situation due to adverse sea conditions and, according to what is known, the harbor offices therefore sent her to the port of Lampedusa, as happened last month with the Rise Above, which was landed in Reggio Calabria.
The group had left at 10 on December 6 from Sabratha, Libya.
Happy ending postponed by 24 hours, due to bad weather, also for Geo Barents: "A safe place for disembarkation is finally good news for all the people who survived after the traumatic experiences they have faced", comments MSF.
For Humanity 1, which has 261 migrants on board, the port of Bari would have been decided. This morning Sos Humanity said that "while on the morning of December 6 the crew carried out a rescue of 103 people in distress, they witnessed closely forced repatriation of people fleeing by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard. With two boats they violently stopped an unseaworthy dinghy carrying about 50 people. Six people remained in the water following the risky manoeuvre, the others were taken with the force aboard the patrol boat and towed to Libya.The incident was documented by the crews of Humanity 1 and lifeboat Louise Michel.The six people left in the water managed to save themselves on a floating life raft on the Louise Michel and were then taken aboard Humanity 1."
Meanwhile, two separate landings, for a total of about 150 migrants, took place in a few hours in Roccella Ionica, in the Locride.
The first occurred yesterday evening when a naval unit of the financial police intercepted and rescued 105 migrants of Afghan and Syrian nationality who were on board a boat off the coast of Calabria.
Among them were several families, women, children.
The yellow flames also saved two newborns aged 2 and 5 months.
This morning, however, there was the second landing around 11. About 40 migrants were intercepted by a coast guard patrol boat.
They too were accompanied to the port of Roccella Ionica where they received first aid from volunteers from the Red Cross, Civil Protection and the Médecins Sans Frontières team.
Lastly, during the night between Wednesday and Thursday, the coast guard of Reggio Calabria recovered the body of a man held afloat by a life jacket from the sea.
It has not been confirmed, but it is not excluded that the discovery of the man could be connected to the two landings of Roccella Jonica or to the one that took place in Reggio Calabria on Tuesday evening when 86 migrants arrived, intercepted by the finance police off Capo Spartivento.
Finally, after having been a salvage vessel, the vessel of the German NGO Iuventa "stopped in the port of Trapani for five years and abandoned by the harbor master's office, has been plundered, largely demolished and is in danger of sinking. The Court ordered the extensive maintenance work to restore her to the condition she was in before her seizure in August 2017. But implementing the court's decision remains doubtful, given the ship's poor condition."
“I find it a bit cynical that this decision has been taken after what was a rescue vessel is now just a pile of rubble. However it is an important message in light of the arbitrary treatment and measures against civilian search and rescue operations ", comments Kathrin Schmidt from Iuventa.
