With more than 800 migrants on board, the ships “Ocean-Viking” and “Sea-Watch” authorized to dock in Sicily

The urgent appeal, launched by the two ships, has borne fruit. More than 250 migrants disembarked from the humanitarian ship on Saturday, August 7 Sea-Watch, in Sicily, while theOcean-Viking, with 550 people on board, has obtained permission to dock there, the chartered non-governmental organizations (NGOs) announced.

“The # SeaWatch3 docked at the port of Trapani [en Sicile] this morning. We are happy to finally have a safe port ”, rejoiced, in a tweet, the German rescue association Sea-Watch International, specifying that the 257 people who got off the boat were going to be tested for Covid-19. Thursday, the NGO had reported a situation “Critical”, symptoms of dehydration had appeared in many people on board, some of whom had been at sea for a week, while the crew ran out of medication.

Meanwhile, the crew of theOcean-Viking, chartered by the French association SOS Méditerranée, told Agence France-Presse that it had obtained authorization to disembark its 549 passengers at the Sicilian port of Pozzallo on Sunday. The association had also warned that the crew was running out of drugs, while migrants suffered from dehydration and skin infections.

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A sometimes long wait for a “safe harbor”

“We need a safe place to disembark them as quickly as possible”, had demanded the spokesperson of the NGO and member of the crew Julia Schaefermeyer, stressing that 118 minors, including thirteen children under the age of 12, were among the passengers. The boat had rescued 555 people last weekend. Malta gave a negative response to the NGO, while Libya and Tunisia did not respond to the request for the allocation of a safe port.

Mme Schaefermeyer asked the European Union to help set up a “Predictable disembarkation mechanism”. After each rescue, NGOs have to wait, stranded at sea, sometimes for several days, for the allocation of a “Safe harbor” by the maritime authorities to disembark.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), migrant departures, interceptions and arrivals in the central Mediterranean are on the increase this year. At least 1,113 people died in the Mediterranean during the first half of 2021 while trying to reach Europe.

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The World with AFP