Two ships of German non-governmental organizations conducting search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean and have boarded almost 300 people are finding it difficult to find a port to allow them to disembark, they were still waiting yesterday, after several days off.
Ships from the aid organizations Sea-Eye and Mission Lifeline have been sailing near Lampedusa in recent days. But as the weather worsened, they moved to Sicily, hoping to find calmer waters, according to Sea-Eye.
The non-governmental organization, based in Regensburg, clarified that 223 migrants are on Sea-Eye 4, among them seven pregnant women and eight children.
Several are injured, including a 5-year-old boy who was stranded on a small boat for three days before being rescued. He has difficulty walking because he has acute pains, the NGO stressed.
According to the Dresden-based Mission Lifeline, its own boat, the Rise Above, is carrying 66 people it rescued.
As of Sunday, the Italian coast had counted more than 63,700 arrivals of refugees and migrants in the country.
According to UN figures, almost 23,000 people have lost their lives since 2014 trying to cross the Mediterranean and reach Europe.
Aid agencies conducting search and rescue operations have recently been increasingly critical of the Maltese authorities: although many migrants are located in the EU’s search and rescue zone, Valletta is not responding to calls for help, they said.
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