"The Alan Kurdi is an odyssey of unknown duration out": With this call for help, the German aid organization Sea-Eye turned to the public, after the rescue ship operated by her "Alan Kurdi" had rescued 64 people from a rubber boat in the Mediterranean. As expected, Italy rejects the admission of Libyan refugees and warned the "Alan Kurdi" against going into Italian territorial waters.

The Italian Government has asked Germany to take responsibility for the German-flagged vessel. In a letter to the German Ambassador, Italian Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi wrote that an "Alan Kurdi" violation endangers national security.

Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said on the sidelines of the interior ministers meeting of the G7 states in Paris: "I have told the German Interior Minister, if it is a German ship, he should intervene and clarify the matter."

Day 1: 64 rescued people and 17 crew members are now waiting for a political solution to the #AlanKurdi. 50 people are still missing and the news agencies are reporting escalations of the Libyan civil war. Never was the #EU so absent. #saveLives pic.twitter.com/JNFfyGm0zW

- sea-eye (@seaeyeorg) 4 April 2019

The ship had initially headed for the Italian island of Lampedusa. The operational command is in close contact with the Foreign Office in Berlin, Sea-Eye said. On board the ship are among other things twelve women, a child and a baby. In addition to Italy, Malta has refused to dock the ship.

Rescue ships have to wait repeatedly with refugees in the Mediterranean before they can head for a port. Last summer, the "Aquarius" run by Doctors Without Borders and SOS Méditerranée made headlines when it had to stay on the sea with more than 600 people aboard. Meanwhile, the ship has ended its mission in the Mediterranean.

The "Alan Kurdi" is named after the boy whose body had been washed up on a Turkish beach in September 2015. The photo went around the world. The ship has been in use since the end of 2018 for Sea-Eye. The organization claims to have saved more than 14,000 refugees from drowning in about 60 missions since 2016.