Sixty migrants feared drowned crossing Mediterranean from Libya
Rome, Italy Reuters As many as 60 people are feared to have drowned on a vessel carrying migrants across the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy or Malta, the operators of a charity rescue group said on Thursday. SOS Mediterranee said it rescued 25 people in a “very weak” condition in coordination with the Italian Coast […]
France says Italy’s ban on migrant charity ship is ‘unacceptable’
Rome, Italy/Paris, France Reuters France on Wednesday criticised Italy’s refusal to let a charity ship carrying over 200 migrants dock in its ports, as the two countries disagreed on where they should disembark. The Ocean Viking vessel has been at sea for more than two weeks since its first rescue in the central Mediterranean and […]
Migrant charity ship spurned by Italy heads to France
Rome, ItalyReuters A migrant rescue ship with more than 200 people on board headed to France on Tuesday after Italy refused it permission to dock as its new right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni attempts to crack down on migration across the Mediterranean. Meloni’s two-week-old government has told charity vessels to take rescued people to other […]
Italy demands countries take responsibility for migrant rescue boats
Rome, ItalyReuters A row escalated on Friday over who should take care of migrants rescued by charity groups off the Italian coast, with Italy insisting that countries whose flag was flown by the boats should bear some of the responsibility and Norway disagreeing. Three charity vessels holding almost 1,000 migrants have been at sea off […]
Nearly 1,000 migrants stranded in Med as NGOs urge Italy, Malta to help
Rome, ItalyReuters Three charity boats carrying almost 1,000 rescued migrants on Wednesday urged Italian or Maltese authorities to welcome them into one of their ports, saying those onboard needed urgent assistance. The vessels operated by Doctors Without Borders (MSF), SOS Mediterranee and SOS Humanity have been at sea for more than a week. They said […]
Rescue groups, Pope, decry loss of migrant lives in Mediterranean
Rome, ItalyAP Rescue groups and the Vatican are decrying the latest deaths of migrants who put to sea in traffickers’ unseaworthy boats, amid laments that central Mediterranean nations are choosing not to dispatch vessels to save them. Aid group Alarm Phone said in a tweet that despite a spotter plane locating an overcrowded ship in […]
At least 130 migrants feared drowned in Mediterranean as capsized boat, bodies found
Milan, ItalyReuters Merchant vessels and a charity ship searching the Mediterranean for boats carrying migrants has found 10 bodies floating near a capsized rubber boat believed to have had 130 people on board, French humanitarian organisation SOS Mediterranee said. Another wooden boat was still missing with about 40 migrants aboard, a spokesman for the group […]