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Refugees after their arrival in Sicily (archive picture from 2018)
Photo: GIOVANNI ISOLINO / AFP
The rescue ship "Geo Barents" is allowed to dock in Sicily with more than 320 refugees rescued from distress at sea.
The Italian authorities had assigned the crew to the port of the city of Augusta, the organization Doctors Without Borders, which operates the ship, announced on Twitter on Monday.
The "Geo Barents" had been waiting off the coast for several days after several rescue operations in the Mediterranean awaiting a decision by the authorities.
Only last week the “ResQ People”, a ship belonging to the Italian sea rescue organization “ResQ”, was able to dock in the port of Augusta with around 165 rescued migrants on board.
"ResQ" had rescued people in distress during several missions in the central Mediterranean over the past few days.
"Alan Kurdi" under a new name
This ended the ship's first mission in the central Mediterranean under a new name.
Before it belonged to the Regensburg organization Sea-Eye and was called "Alan Kurdi".
The Germans sold it to the Italians for financial reasons.
Various aid organizations keep going out to sea to save people from drowning who try to get into the EU in the hope of a better life.
The refugees mostly leave the coasts of Libya and Tunisia, often in overcrowded boats.
According to the United Nations, more than 1,020 migrants have died in the Mediterranean this year.
From January to August 2020 there were just under 390.
mrc / dpa