After a 37-hour rescue operation, in which 72 migrants were rescued in distress in the Mediterranean Sea, aid organization Sea-Watch was in for a nasty surprise. Upon arrival in port, the ship Aurora was chained, so reports Sea-Watch on Monday. The ship is not allowed to sail for 20 days and the NGO may have to pay a fine, which can range from 2,500 to 10,000 euros.
According to the Italian authorities, Sea-Watch has violated a decree. The Aurora had been ordered to sail to the port of Trapani, located in Sicily. “Impossible,” says Sea-Watch in a press release. The situation on board the ship was “deteriorating by the minute” and Trapani was four times as far away as Lampedusa, where the Aurora decided to dock with the dozens of migrants who had just been rescued from the sea.
Running out of fuel and drinking water
Because the rescue operation took so long, the Aurora was running low on fuel. There was also not enough drinking water on board. The migrants had spent more than 24 hours on a boat in the blazing sun, with temperatures on board reaching as high as 46 degrees. For these reasons, Sea-Watch nevertheless sailed to Lampedusa, even though this was expressly forbidden by the Italian authorities.
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Since Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni took office, there has been a tougher crackdown on aid organizations that help migrants on their way to the Italian coast via the Mediterranean. But even before she took office, Sea-Watch ships were often chained. The NGO calls on Rome to immediately release the Aurora.
More than 2,200 migrants have drowned in the Mediterranean since the beginning of 2023, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). That is the highest death toll since 2017.