The Italian coast guard has impounded the rescue ship Alan Kurdi at the port of Palermo in Sicily, saying it has found "irregularities". The German-flagged vessel arrived in Italy after rescuing 150 migrants off Libya last month and being placed under coronavirus quarantine.
On Sunday, 34 migrants who had been on board the rescue ship Aita Mari, joined 146 migrants taken from another rescue ship, the Alan Kurdi, in quarantine aboard a ferry off the coast of Palermo. The migrants are expected to spend 14 days on the ferry.
The Italian government has ordered that migrants rescued by NGOs at sea must spend a period of quarantine aboard a ship, without disembarking on land. The decision unleashed controversy, with associations denouncing it as a measure against NGOs.
The global coronavirus pandemic is also affecting sea rescue operations. While the Alan Kurdi rescue vessel continues to look for safe harbor in the Mediterranean, the German interior ministry launched an appeal saying that private rescue missions should halt their activities for the time being during the COVID-19 crisis.
NGO ship Alan Kurdi has rescued 150 migrants from two boats off the coast of Libya. It is the only private rescue ship operating in the region right now. The coronavirus emergency could make it difficult for the ship to find a port for disembarkation.
In midst of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the German humanitarian organizaton Sea-Eye announced the launch of a new migrant rescue mission in the Mediterranean Sea. The Alan Kurdi vessel left the Spanish port of Burriana on Monday.
The charity ship Alan Kurdi reached a rubber boat carrying 32 migrants, ahead of an impending storm on the Mediterranean. According to the Sea-Eye rescue group, they all said they were Libyan citizens.
Some 137 migrants picked up overnight in rescue operations off the Libyan coast are waiting for a safe port to come ashore. Seven migrants, including two new-born babies, have already been evacuated to Lampedusa for medical reasons.
Italy granted permission for migrants on board a Sea-Eye rescue ship to disembark, after nearly a week stranded at sea. The standoff ended after Germany and other EU countries agreed to take in the migrants.
Italian Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese and representatives from NGOs working in migrant search and rescue in the Mediterranean met on Friday. The ministry called the gathering "a first step for the start of a direct dialogue between the parties."
The image of three-year-old Alan Kurdi, who drowned crossing the Mediterranean Sea fleeing the Syrian civil war, caused international outrage. Alan's father now hopes to join the German rescue boat named after his son.
The German search-and-rescue vessel Alan Kurdi has completed its current mission after Malta allowed the disembarkation of the remaining five migrants aboard the charity boat.