Sea rescue NGOs Open Arms and Sea-Watch have rescued and brought ashore more than 800 migrants over the weekend. The crew of the Open Arms Uno also picked up 59 survivors and one corpse from an oil rig. 800 migrants are currently waiting on the Open Arms Uno and Humanity 1 to be assigned a port.
It's been nine days since the Open Arms NGO rescue vessel took aboard about 100 people off Sicily. However, the rescuees remain uncertain about what awaits them next, as no port has been assigned to accept them yet.
Doctors without Borders says its Geo Barents ship, with 106 rescued migrants on board, has been given permission to dock in Taranto, southern Italy.
The Spanish Open Arms NGO rescued 101 migrants in the central Mediterranean. This was the first humanitarian mission of its new flagship, Uno. In the meantime, the influx of migrant arrivals in the regions of Calabria and Sicily continues.
The Spanish rescue organization Open Arms’ sailing boat Astral set out on its 91st mission earlier this week. Already, it has located more than 100 migrants and transferred them to the Italian coast guard’s care.
A court in Palermo has heard that migrants who were stranded on board the Open Arms rescue ship in 2019 suffered "dire conditions" and psychological distress. Italy's former interior minister Matteo Salvini is facing trial for refusing to allow the migrants to disembark.
A doctor who carried out an inspection aboard the Open Arms in August 2019 has testified in court. Former Italian interior minister Matteo Salvini is currently facing kidnapping charges over refusing to let the rescue ship disembark in Italy.
The number of migrants arriving in Italy from Tunisia and Liby has doubled in the first eight months of this year compared to last year. In August alone, more than 10,000 people arrived. Over the last few days, dozens of people were rescued from overcrowded boats in the Mediterranean.
There are two investigations in Italy, looking in to the delayed disembarking of migrants involving former Interior Minister Matteo Salvini as defendant. The cases are now being heard by preliminary investigative judges in Sicily.
Matteo Salvini, the head of Italy’s far-right League party, is to stand trial for kidnapping and abuse of office. The former interior minister is charged with refusing entry to a Spanish rescue ship and the 147 people it had saved in the Mediterranean Sea.
More than 200 migrants picked up by the Open Arms rescue ship have landed safety in Sicily. The NGO said the Central Mediterranean has become a "no man's land" and a "tomb" for European values.
The Spanish migrant rescue vessel Open Arms is still looking for a port to disembark the 217 boat migrants it has rescued since Sunday. On Tuesday, a pregnant woman and her brother were handed over to the Italian coast guard.