On Sunday, February 19, the ship Life Support, operated by the Italian medical humanitarian NGO EMERGENCY, disembarked 156 rescued migrants in the Italian port of Civitavecchia, not far from the capital Rome on Italy’s west coast.

In a press release, EMERGENCY stated that many of those who disembarked in Civiatvecchia had told the team tales of abuse and suffering they had endured in Libya, or on their journey towards the Mediterranean.

The group had been rescued by Life Support’s crew from two separate boats on February 16. Among the group were two women, three children between seven and ten years old and 28 unaccompanied minors, said the head of mission Emanuele Nannini.

Stories of abuse and suffering

"Their state of health is good," explained Nannini, "but many of them told us stories of abuse suffered in Libya. Lots of them have marks on their skin which show the signs of beatings and mistreatment."

On board the EMERGENCY boat, migrants came from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sudan, Eritrea, Gambia, Chad, Cameroon, Senegal, Mali, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Guinea (Conakry) and Egypt, stated the EMERGENCY press release.

A couple of days before the Life Support crew rescued the migrants, they say they were approached at sea by a boat they later discovered to be part of a body run by the Interior Ministry in Libya. They say the boat’s actions were "intimidatory" and "refused to answer any radioed questions or identify itself properly." According to Life Support this encounter took place outside Libya's territorial waters and that they informed the Libyan and Italian authorities immediately about the encounter.

"We discovered [later] that the boat in question belongs to the SSA Stability Support Apparatus [a body run by the Libyan Interior Ministry,]" stated EMERGENCY. "We confirm that this encounter took place more than 25 nautical miles from the Libyan coast, so outside the Libyan territorial waters which end at 12 miles from the coast. We can demonstrate this via our navigation instruments on board."

Also read: Arrests and searches for undocumented migrants across Italy

More rescue ships dock in Ravenna, Ancona

On Saturday, February 18, the private rescue ship Ocean Viking operated by SOS Mediterrannee disembarked 84 migrants, including 58 minors, in the port of Ravenna.

A third rescue ship, the Geo Barents run by medical charity Doctors without Borders MSF, disembarked 48 migrants in the eastern Italian port of Ancona on Friday.

MSF said that that rescued group included nine minors, and they criticized the Italian authorities for having compelled them to make a "long and unecessary journey to Ancona" in order to disembark those rescued.

The crew of the Geo Barents said they hoped the migrants would be able to "access the healthcare, services and safety they deserve and need" in Italy. While on the way to Ancona, MSF also tweeted pictures of some of the men on board receiving haircuts and beard trims. MSF commented that the improvized barber shop on board was helping to "bring dignity back to the men aboard. Taking care of oneself is not a luxury allowed in Libya."

'His pain is so great, he can't come to terms with his loss'

One of MSF’s psychologists, Mara Eliana Tunno wrote a blog post about some of the testimonies that those who arrived in Lampedusa had given her after surviving one of the latest shipwrecks in the Mediterranean. She writes of one young man Daren* who lost his friend on the journey.

The psychologist describes Daren’s eyes as unseeing, unable to perceive that he has arrived on land, because all he can see before him is the sea and the petrol and the boat on which he had been traveling.

"He doesn’t know if he is safe now. He can’t see me, he can’t arrive [on land]. As soon as he closes his eyes, he hears the screams for help and the crying. When he opens his eyes, all he can see are the waves and the rain. We repeat together ‘I am not on the boat, I am no longer in danger at sea’. We write it down on a piece of card. We repeat it again and again. We read it again and again, sooner or later Daren will arrive," writes Tunno hopefully.

Another person still mentally lost on the journey is Kofi*, writes Tunno. "He is just not here at all," she states. "His wife is dead and his son slipped out of his arms and fell into the sea. His brother jumped in to the water to save the child, and then was also pulled beneath the waves. Now there is just Kofi sitting in front of me, he is probably only just 20 and on the journey he lost his family, three people. Kofi sits there, looking around disorientated. His gaze is lost and so sad. He can’t understand what happened."

Kofi, says Tunno, asks her where he can do some sport, where he can lift weights. "His pain is so great, he can’t come to terms with his loss," thinks Tunno. "I so want to hug him, to take some of the weight that he is now carrying, from his shoulders, and will be carrying for a long time. I want to help him for a bit until he wakes up from this absent state and realizes the nightmare he now finds himself in."

'Non-stop' arrivals

According to the latest figures from the Italian Interior Ministry, last updated on February 17, more than 9,254 migrants have now arrived by sea in Italy since the beginning of the year. On February 16, 1,569 arrived in a single day. So far this year, the majority of arrivals have stated their nationality as Ivorian (more than 1,000) with people coming from Pakistan (967) and Guinea (912) following close behind.

The Turkish state news agency Anadolu, reported on Febuary 18 that "more than 1,300 migrants had reached the coasts of Italy in the last 48 hours." The agency said the migrants arrived on a "total of 28 boats from Libya and Tunisia."

The Italian state broadcaster RAI reported on Monday, February 20 that the arrivals had been "non-stop" on Lampedusa, with "82 arriving during the night on small boats." One of those small boats also contained the body of someone who died, presumably on route to Italy, according to RAI.

"The Italian Coast Guard working alongside Frontex, picked up 45 people, including seven women, on a boat about seven meters long. One of the migrants on board was found dead," stated RAI. The origins of those on board were reported to be from Ivory Coast, Guinea, Senegal and Nigeria. They said they had left the port of Sfax in Tunisia to reach Italy.

The "hotspot" or first reception center on Lampedusa is reportedly "over full" and the authorities are investigating the death of a woman in the hotspot. The woman had reportedly been taken to the clinic to be checked, but had then been discharged from the clinic and sent back to the hotspot.

Another boat arrived on the Italian coast with 37 people on board, including five women and one minor. These migrants are reportedly from Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Guinea, Mali and Sierra Leone, reported RAI. On Sunday, reportedly 17 boats arrived, carrying a total of 848 people.

The hotspot is only meant to house 400 people, and at dawn on Monday, reported RAI, it had 2,168 people. Hundreds are sleeping on makeshift matreses on the floor, and in internal courtyards. The authorities on Lampedusa have been trying to transfer people to the Italian mainland, but the structure remains far over capacity.

According to RAI 90 migrants were taken on a ship towards the Sicilian mainland and the port of Pozzallo, and another 183 were put on board a ferry towards the Sicilian port of Porto Empedocle. On Monday, Euronews reported that the Italian Interior Ministry had given the go ahead for 1,600 migrants to be transferred to the Italian mainland.

*Names changed by MSF to protect identities

Also read: Ocean Viking, 'saved by the big boat'