ROME (AP) – A rescue ship with 422 migrants on board, a small number of which tested positive for COVID-19, was going to a port in Sicily on Sunday.
SOS Mediterranee, the humanitarian group that operates the rescue vessel Ocean Viking, told the Associated Press that Italy had granted the ship permission to enter the port of Augusta, where it was supposed to arrive on Sunday night, exactly when rain and wind were forecast. strong.
The migrants were rescued in separate operations in the central Mediterranean Sea on Thursday and Friday, including 121 who were huddled in a rubber dinghy. Some of the passengers fell into the sea during the rescue operation, but were taken to safety, said SOS Mediterranee in a statement from Luisa Albera, search and rescue coordinator on board the Ocean Viking.
In all, four separate rescue operations were carried out over two days. Many of those rescued are women and children.
Originally, a total of 424 people were rescued, but a pregnant woman and her partner were urgently evacuated by helicopter to Malta on Saturday, the statement said.
Eight of the rescued migrants had COVID-19, according to tests administered by the crew, and were being isolated on board in spite of the difficulties in the deck conditions.
“But while strict COVID-19 mitigation protocols apply on board the Ocean Viking, this is a 69-meter (228-foot) long ship,” said Albera. “This situation is all the more reason for the 422 remaining survivors, who are in confined space on the stern deck, to be immediately landed in a safe place,” she said.
Among the passengers are other pregnant women, babies and unaccompanied minors among the children.
During the pandemic, Italy began to transfer migrants from rescue ships anchored in the port to other ships where passengers can be quarantined in a protective way, although children are generally taken to shore for shelter.
Most of those who arrive in Italy thanks to maritime rescues in recent years are not entitled to asylum, because they are considered economic migrants who are not fleeing persecution or conflict.
The number of people who reached the Italian coast after trips aboard non-navigable boats launched by traffickers, usually based in Libya or Tunisia, has decreased compared to the hundreds of thousands who were rescued at sea a few years earlier.
But another drama of the migrant’s suffering is taking place on land in Europe. Many went hungry and cold during the winter after being sent back after crossing Italy from Slovenia, which sends them to Croatia, which pushes them back to Bosnia after their failed attempts to enter the European Union.
Pope Francis on Sunday called for help for unaccompanied minors on the Balkan route, lamenting that they are “exposed to many dangers”.
“These days, the dramatic situation of those on the so-called Balkan route has been brought to my attention,” said Francis. “But there are so many (unaccompanied minors) on all routes.”
“We are going to work so that these fragile and defenseless creatures do not lack zealous care and preferential humanitarian channels,” said Francis, without mentioning any country.