The German humanitarian ship Louise Michel, which rescues migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean, has been immobilized since Saturday on the island of Lampedusa by the Italian authorities, the NGO that chartered it announced on Sunday. “We still have not received an official written justification for the detention” of the ship, said the NGO of the same name on its Twitter account. But “we know that there are dozens of boats in distress around the island at this very moment, but we are prevented from rescuing them. This is unacceptable!”, She added.
1/2 24h after being told that our ship is detained, we still do not have an official written justification for the detention. We know of dozens of boats in distress right in front of the island at this very moment, yet we are being prevented from assisting. This is unacceptable! pic.twitter.com/FHxc5Xtpiy
— LouiseMichel (@MVLouiseMichel) March 26, 2023
In a press release, the coastguard confirmed the immobilization of the former French Navy ship, decorated by the artist Banksy, one of its sponsors. After carrying out a first rescue operation in Libyan waters, the Louise Michel was assigned the port of Trapani, Sicily, but “did not comply with this injunction by heading towards three other migrant boats”, they said. justified.
1,417 migrants disappeared in the central Mediterranean in 2022
Thousands of migrants land on the island of Lampedusa
In the case of the Louise Michel, a modest-sized ship (30 meters), the ban imposed on her from carrying out several interventions at the same time was intended to prevent her “taking on board a number of people such as could jeopardize its safety and that of the migrant boats to which they rescue”, argued the coast guard. In recent days, thousands of migrants have landed on the island of Lampedusa, off the eastern coast of Tunisia, aboard their own boats or Italian coast guard boats. The Louise Michel, for its part, picked up 180 people at sea before dropping them off on the island.
While NGOs transport only a small percentage of migrants, the Italian government accuses them of stimulating their arrivals and encouraging traffickers.