More than 700 migrants aboard non-governmental organizations (NGOs) boats have been awaiting urgent disembarkation in a Mediterranean port for eight days after being rescued at sea, the entities that rescued them said Friday.
A total of “460 people, including women, children, babies and men, are still stuck in limbo, waiting to disembark,” “some of them” need “urgent medical care,” after eight days at a boat, “after having rescued in the central Mediterranean”, the NGO SOS Mediterranée and the International Movement of the Red Cross and Red Crescent denounced today.
The NGO stated that the team aboard the Ocean Viking boat, for which it is responsible, is unable to respond to the high number of cases requiring medical attention, including exhaustion, dehydration, infections, maltreated vacations and chronic illnesses. In addition, two nine-month pregnant women had to be removed.
“We have never seen such a high number of serious medical cases aboard the Ocean Viking. The survivors were found in the middle of the sea in unimaginable situations, in a desperate attempt to flee Libya,” said SOS Mediterranée official , Xavier Lauth.
SOS Mediterranée’s Ocean Viking rescued 466 women, children and men in ten operations between August 25 and 27.
The survivors included more than 20 adult women, including some pregnant women, and more than 80 minors, 75% of whom were unaccompanied.
On August 29, two nine-month pregnant women were taken from the boat in an emergency operation and taken by the Italian coast guard, as well as four family members – two sisters and two children, including a three-week-old girl.
The boat Geo Barens, of the NGO Doctors without Borders, has also been waiting for more than a week to pick up and disembark the 267 migrants who were rescued from the sea last weekend.
“Among the survivors desperately waiting to disembark is 10-year-old Omar, who traveled alone from Cameroon. He spent six months in Libya in inhumane conditions and two days at sea before being rescued. others we can’t wait a little longer,” the NGO wrote on its social networks.
Doctors Without Borders denounced the lack of response from nearby countries, saying that “four requests have been sent to a port in Malta and three to Italy so far, without any response”.
According to Italian authorities, 68 people arrived last night on the island of Lampedusa, closest to the African coast, in two different boats, after 330 arrived on Thursday.
At the island’s identification center there are currently 887 migrants, with a capacity of 350, local authorities said, who say they are conducting relocation operations.
This year, 58,451 migrants have arrived on Italy’s coasts, a number comparable to the 39,478 recorded over the same period in 2021, according to data from the Italian government updated today.
Source: DN
