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The »Sea-Watch 3«
Photo: David Lohmueller / dpa
In Italy there is again a tug-of-war over a detained German aid ship: The Italian coast guard is holding the private rescue ship "Sea-Watch 3" in the Sicilian port of Augusta, as the operators confirmed on Monday.
There was a security check by the authorities on Sunday, explained a Sea-Watch spokeswoman in Germany.
For example, Italy complained that the ship was only equipped to carry a good 20 people, depending on the number of crew.
At the beginning of March, the "Sea-Watch 3" brought more than 350 migrants rescued from distress in the Mediterranean to the Sicilian port.
Italian inspectors keep holding rescue ships in ports.
You assert security deficiencies and other rule violations.
The various aid organizations affected classify the procedure as a harassment with which their operations in the Mediterranean are to be hindered.
According to the Italian news agency Adnkronos, the authorities also complained on Sunday that the "Sea-Watch 3" had polluted the quay and the harbor waters with oil.
A Sea-Watch spokeswoman announced that the Berlin-based organization wants to take legal action against the blockade.
The "Sea-Watch 3" had been put on a forced break in the summer of 2020 for months in Italy for similar reasons.
The ship went on new missions in 2021 after an overhaul.
According to the operator organization, German and Spanish authorities had confirmed the ship's safety.
At the beginning of March, a court in Palermo, Sicily, provisionally released the ship "Sea-Watch 4", which had also been detained for a longer period of time.
The rescue operations of civil organizations in the Mediterranean are politically controversial.
Italy's former interior minister Matteo Salvini opposed the admission of refugees to the rescue ship "Open Arms" in 2019.
Now he should go to court for it.
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ire / dpa