The German rescue ship "Alan Kurdi" has arrived in Taranto, southern Italy. The 88 refugees left the ship. The rescued were individually supplied by the Italian authorities and registered, said the spokesman for the Sea Eye, Gorden Isler. Representatives of the police and the Coast Guard were also on site.
According to the Italian news agency Ansa, there were also five children on board. The Italian Ministry of the Interior had previously given the "Alan Kurdi" permission to land in Taranto. After about a week on the Mediterranean, the crew had entered Italian territorial waters. Sea Eye had justified this with the bad weather.
The ship had picked up the migrants on 26 October off the coast of Libya. According to the Sea Eye, the crew had been threatened with being rescued by a Libyan militia at sea, and masked people had fired warning shots into the air and into the water.
According to Ansa, referring to the Ministry of the Interior, Germany and France want to accept 60 "Alan Kurdi" migrants, Portugal five and Ireland two. The rest are to stay in Italy. At the end of September, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer had agreed with France, Italy and Malta on a distribution of refugees rescued from distress. (Read more about this topic here).
The mayor of Taranto, Rinaldo Melucci, had said his city would not hesitate to assist these people in need in the short time of their stay.
