Banksy's ship: the Italian coast guard evacuates 49 "fragile" people

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5 mins

The Italian coast guard responded on Saturday to the distress messages in the Mediterranean from the ship Louise Michel, chartered by the street artist Banksy, by evacuating the 49 most vulnerable people as a priority.

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"  In view of the dangerousness of the situation, the coast guard sent a patrol boat from Lampedusa to the site which took on board the 49 people considered to be the most fragile, including 32 women, 13 children and 4 men  ", they indicate in a statement.

The Louise Michel, which rescued a total of 219 migrants at sea in two operations, is in a “  search and rescue zone  ” in the state of Malta.

But "  due to the expected deterioration of maritime weather conditions in the region  ", Malta contacted the Italian Coast Guard to carry out the operation.

“  The Italian Coast Guard took 49 of the most fragile survivors! It's great and that leaves us with a majority still waiting,  ”reacted on his Twitter account the crew of the ship, who still has the load of 201 people.

There is still no dialogue. The boat still does not have a safe port assigned to it ...

Marie Faggianelli, member of the Louise Michel collective.

Eliott Brachet

Help from another aid ship

However, he announced the arrival on site of the humanitarian boat Sea-Watch 4 which "  will help us to do what Europe is not capable of doing  ", he writes. Sea-Watch 4, currently in the Mediterranean where it has rescued 201 migrants, is chartered by the German NGO Sea-Watch and the organization Médecins sans frontières. He is also looking for a disembarkation port.

“  We have a clinic on board the Sea-Watch 4 and we will see how we can help them. We may also be able to take migrants on board even if we have Covid procedures to respect,  "said Hassiba Hadj-Sahraoui, in charge of humanitarian issues for MSF in the Netherlands, on Saturday, denouncing the"  untenable situation  "of humanitarian ships. in Mediterranean.

At the same time, the left-wing Italian collective Mediterranea announced on Saturday the departure of its ship Mare Ionio from the port of Augusta, in Sicily, to also assist Louise-Michel.

The Marinetraffic website indicates that the Louise Michel is located about a hundred kilometers south-east of the Italian island of Lampedusa, in the south of Sicily.

According to the latest data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), attempts to leave are increasing in the Mediterranean, the deadliest migratory route in the world.

Between early January and late July, attempts to leave Libya increased by 91%, compared to the same period last year, accounting for 14,481 people who set sail.

The humanitarian ship Louise Michel, which has only ten crew members, had appealed for help overnight from Friday to Saturday, in particular lamenting a death on board. The migrants collected for their part mentioned the death of three people at sea before their recovery, reports the boat chartered by Banksy.

After a first rescue Thursday, the crew of the Louise Michel said they had picked up on Friday 130 new drifting migrants aboard a rubber dinghy taking water.

The boat, which had become overcrowded and could no longer move forward, had to leave 33 people on a rescue boat moored at Louise Michel. "  We need immediate assistance  ," pleaded the crew of the boat.

(With AFP )

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• International Migration