The Italian government contemplates the immediate disembarkation of those rescued to avoid consecutive rescues, according to ‘La Repubblica’
ROME, Dec. 18 (DPA/EP) –
The Italian authorities have assigned a safe port to the German humanitarian organization Mission Lifeline to disembark the 27 migrants rescued on Saturday in the Mediterranean by the ship ‘Rise Above’.
The Dresden-based organization has confirmed this “surprisingly fast” permission to bring the rescued to the town of Gioia Tauro, on the western coast of Calabria, in the far south of Italy.
The crew headed towards Calabria from their current position, east of Malta. The rescue ship had arrived a few days ago in its area of operations in the central Mediterranean, where aid organizations regularly bring migrants in distress to safety.
On Friday, the volunteers collaborated in the rescue of more than 60 people in a boat, who were transferred to the ‘Sea-Eye 4’ of the German organization Sea-Eye. On Saturday, the crew loaded 27 migrants from Syria on board the ‘Rise Above’.
The migrants mostly set sail from the North African shores bound for Italy to reach European Union countries, but repeatedly find themselves in trouble at sea.
The Italian government, despite the rapidity of these concessions, maintains its intention to limit arrivals, following the political program of the far-right Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni.
The newspaper ‘La Repubblica’ has reported this Sunday without going any further about a new regulation that Rome wants to introduce after Christmas and that would force the crews to take the rescued people ashore immediately after taking them on board.
The note adds that the Italian Government will not accept organizations that do not comply with this rule and that if they enter Italian waters later, they will be. According to the newspaper, the authorities thus want to prevent the boats from sailing longer and rescuing more migrants in several consecutive missions.