Enlarge image
Crew members of the German rescue ship "Humanity 1" during a mission in the Mediterranean in mid-September
Photo: Arez Ghaderi / dpa
Two German sea rescue ships have brought hundreds of migrants and refugees to Italy.
The "Sea-Watch 3" docked in Reggio Calabria on Saturday morning, where the first of the 427 people rescued from the Mediterranean Sea were able to disembark.
This was announced by the Berlin organization.
The people had been picked up in several rescue operations.
After that, the crew was only given permission to approach the port at the southern tip of Italy after several requests and days of waiting.
The sister ship "Sea-Eye 4" docked in Taranto (Tarent) in the Apulia region on Friday with 129 rescued people.
According to the Regensburg organization, some of the people were on board for almost two weeks before the Italian authorities gave permission for the landing.
Another ship is waiting for permission
The rescue ship "Humanity 1" of the Berlin-based organization SOS Humanity, on the other hand, is still waiting with 414 people on board for the assignment of a safe haven.
As the group announced on Saturday, the situation on board had deteriorated after more than a week.
»Due to the confined space, colds and gastrointestinal diseases are rampant.
Several children have high fevers of up to 40 degrees," SOS Humanity said in a statement.
A man has a gunshot wound that cannot be treated on board the ship.
Time and again, people from North Africa try to reach Malta or southern Italy and thus the European Union on the dangerous Mediterranean route.
Many are then picked up by private rescue ships in boats, some of which are unseaworthy.
After that, it often takes a few days before they get permission from Italy to head for a port.
According to the rescuers, Malta has not responded to such requests for a long time.
According to information from Rome, more than 66,000 people have arrived in Italy via the Mediterranean so far this year - in the same period last year there were a good 43,000.
According to UN figures, 1,039 people have already died or are missing in the central Mediterranean this year.
beb/dpa
