The ship "Ocean Viking" is allowed to call after its recent rescue mission in the Mediterranean off the Libyan coast of the Italian city Messina. This had been assigned to her as a safe haven, said the aid organization SOS Méditerranée late Saturday night. The 213 survivors on board will be distributed according to a new procedure.
As the Italian Ministry of the Interior announced, Italy, Germany, France and Malta applied for the first time together with the European Commission to initiate the redistribution of migrants.
At a meeting in Malta on 23 September, these four countries had agreed on a basic agreement for emergency rescue in the central Mediterranean. This "temporary solidarity mechanism" provides. that a group of EU states agreed for six months to take boaters rescued from Italy and Malta.
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This is to prevent ships with refugees from having to spend days or weeks on the high seas until the distribution is cleared and the migrants can land. The emergency mechanism is intended as a temporary solution until the current asylum system of the EU is revised. But until today he lacks broad support.
The "Ocean Viking", run by SOS Méditerranée and MSF, had taken a total of 215 people on three rescue missions between Tuesday and Thursday. A woman pregnant with twins and a man were already taken by helicopter from the ship.
Currently, the Spanish rescue ship "Open Arms" in the Mediterranean is on the way. It had taken on board 73 migrants on Thursday.
In front of the Italian island of Lampedusa, a ten-meter long boat overloaded with more than 150 migrants capsized on Saturday evening. The Italian Coast Guard claimed to be able to rescue 149 people, 133 men, 13 women and 3 children.
By Sunday afternoon, five women were found dead, three in the sea and two ashore. Initial reports had mentioned seven dead.
Survivors of the disaster had indicated the number of missing persons with about 20 on Saturday evening. They should be Algerians, Tunisians and Pakistanis. The competent prosecutor in the Sicilian Agrigento has initiated investigations into favoring illegal immigration and multiple negligent homicide, the Italian news agency Ansa reported.
