Frontex said Sunday it is searching for a rubber dinghy that went missing after it set sail from Libya to Italy. The boat is believed to be carrying around 85 migrants. International organizations and NGOs fear the boat has capsized.
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.
Cruises across Europe have been suspended because of the coronavirus emergency. Migrant sea rescue organization Sea-Watch wants the empty cruise ships to be used to evacuate migrants from the Greek islands.
Sea Watch captain Carola Rackete did her duty in landing rescued migrants at Lampedusa last summer, Italy’s highest court has ruled. Rescuing people ''implies the consequent obligation to disembark'' passengers "in a safe place," the court argued.
The United4Rescue initiative backed by the Protestant Church in Germany has inaugurated a new ship to rescue migrants in the Mediterranean. The 'Sea-Watch 4' is set to go on its first mission in April.
The mayor of the Sicilian city of Palermo, Leoluca Orlando, on Monday granted honorary citizenship to the crews of three boats involved in rescuing human lives in the Mediterranean Sea.
In 2018, several European countries agreed to set up a "solidarity mechanism" with the aim of fairly redistributing migrants, rescued in the Mediterranean, among them. InfoMigrants takes a closer look at the scheme's function and limitations.
The Italian Court of Cassation has rejected an appeal filed by the prosecutor's office against an order to release Carola Rackete, the captain of the Sea-Watch 3 migrant rescue vessel. In June 2019, Rackete was temporarily arrested after she illegally entered the Italian port of Lampedusa with 40 migrants on board.
Italian authorities have assigned NGO rescue vessels Sea-Watch 3 and the Open Arms with almost 240 rescued migrants on board the ports of Taranto and Messina, respectively. Four EU countries agreed to receive the migrants, yet a binding quota system for the distribution of migrants rescued at sea is still not in place.
The German sea rescue NGO Sea-Watch has accused the Maltese government of deliberate inaction when it comes to saving the lives of migrants and refugees in Mediterranean waters. In a series of tweets, the private sea rescue organization said that Maltese armed forces only appeared to intervene in such cases when they received according orders.
The German-run private rescue vessel Sea-Watch 3 has picked up around 120 migrants in three rescue operations in the central Mediterranean on Thursday and early Friday morning.
Sea-Watch 3 has vowed to return to sea and rescue migrants after a five-month detainment in a Sicilian port by Italian authorities. Two other rescue boats, Alex and the Mare Jonio, are still being held.