The SOS Méditerranée ambulance ship came to the aid of 29 migrants “in the Maltese search and rescue region” on the night of Thursday April 20 to Friday April 21, according to a press release from the NGO. The alert was given via Alarm Phone, a helpline for people in distress run by an NGO. The migrants had been “in distress at sea for five days”, aboard an “unseaworthy fiberglass boat”. Twenty hours elapsed “between the first alert and the moment the Ocean Viking found the reported vessel in distress”.
“Although aware of the situation, the maritime authorities failed to rescue those left on board and subjected to deteriorating weather conditions,” the NGO continues, stating that “while the Ocean Viking was carrying out the evacuation of the castaways, a Maltese helicopter hovered above the boat and an Italian patrol boat was also present on the scene, (but) neither of them assisted the SOS Méditerranée teams in the search, nor supported the coordination “.
The NGO specifies that the Italian authorities have designated the port of Bari to disembark the rescued people, that is to say two days of navigation.
In early January, several international NGOs involved in rescue operations for migrants in the Mediterranean denounced the desire of the far-right Italian government “to hinder assistance to people in distress”. They pointed to the cross-effects of a decree obliging ships to proceed “without delay” to an Italian port after each rescue, and the usual assignment of very distant ports, reducing assistance capacities.
