A boat, which left the Lebanese city of Tobruk, with more than 400 migrants “in danger” is adrift in the Mediterranean Sea, between Italy and Malta, awaiting rescue by the Italian coast guard, according to the service. rescue ship Alarme Phone.
The alert was given during the early hours of Sunday by the passengers of the boat, who said that they had run out of fuel. “In a panic” over the situation, three people jumped into the sea, one of whom was left unconscious.
Alarm Phone claimed to have contacted authorities in Greece, Malta and Italy as soon as it received the distress call, but Italian authorities only activated a search and rescue operation “when the ship reached their SAR region”. [Área de Busca e Salvamento, na sigla em inglês]“, despite having knowledge of the case from the first alert call.
Among the passengers is a child, a pregnant woman and a person with a physical disability.
The German non-governmental organization (NGO) Sea-Watch International said the people on board were “in imminent danger to their lives” and called for the intervention of the European Union.
“A woman told us about the serious conditions on board: the captain abandoned the boat and no one manages to start the boat up again; many people need medical attention”, wrote Alarme Telephone on the social network Twitter.
According to Skynews, the passengers have already received water and the boat has been replenished, however the travelers now face the problem of rough seas and strong winds, so they had to resort to using buckets to remove the water that flooded the boat.
Recently, there has been an increase in the number of ships carrying immigrants crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa.
Last week was marked by the rescue of 440 migrants in Malta, after a complex 11-hour operation in stormy seas. The operation was carried out by Geo Barents, a vessel belonging to Doctors Without Borders.
The central Mediterranean route is described by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as the world’s most dangerous migration route, with one in six people leaving the North African coast dying.
Source: TSF
