Three young migrants aboard the Geo Barents moored in Catania dived into the sea in an attempt to reach the mainland . They swam to a float and then were recovered by the authorities and taken to the dock next to the Doctors Without Borders ship. What we learn are fine.
The Geo Barents, one of the ships protagonists of a tough tug-of-war with the center-right government, arrived in Catania over the weekend as the Humanity 1 . Two others, the Ocean Viking and the Rise Above , have not yet forced the blockade imposed by the Italian authorities and cross off the coast of Catania.
Of the approximately one thousand migrants rescued in total, half have yet to disembark . From Humanity 1, the German flag, of the NGO Sos Humanity, 35 rescued people remained on board, after 144 were taken off because they were considered “fragile” by the Usmaf medical commission. On the Geo Barents, Norwegian flag, of Doctors Without Borders, there are 214 migrants, after 357 were disembarked yesterday and another was evacuated in the night .
As for the ships not yet in port, on the Ocean Viking, Norwegian flag, of the French NGO Sos Mediterranee, there are 234 people. Finally, on the Rise Above (German flag), after 4 medical evacuations during the night, 89 migrants are present.
Meanwhile, the European Commission, through a spokesperson, reiterates that there is a "moral and legal duty to save people at sea, according to international law" . "Each case is different - he pointed out - but we encourage all the authorities to collaborate in order to facilitate disembarkation".
When the proposal to allow migrants to submit asylum requests directly on NGO ships on the basis of their national registration, thus addressing the country of which they fly the flag, is "very difficult", says a European source, specifying that the laws on the matter they would be "clear enough".
(Unioneonline / D)
