Four men were flown by helicopter late Wednesday (March 6) from the rescue ship Sea-Watch 5 to the island of Lampedusa. They had been rescued earlier the same day from an overcrowded wooden boat in waters off the coast of Tunisia, together with around 50 other migrants. The four airlifted men were from Ethiopia and Eritrea.

The medical evacuation came too late to save a fifth person. Despite the efforts of volunteer medical staff on board, a 17-year-old boy suffered a heart attack and died on the rescue ship on Wednesday afternoon.

The German non-profit organization Sea-Watch blamed authorities in Italy, Malta and Tunisia, saying the state rescue centers had refused their requests for the boy to be evacuated.

"Two hours after our first urgent request, a 17-year-old boy died," the Sea-Watch crew wrote on X.

"We are sad and angry. Europe's isolationist policy has claimed another victim on board our ship," said Hugo Grenier, Sea-Watch 5 Head of Operations. "Despite hours of pleas for a medical evacuation, no coastal state responded to our request."

The organization's spokesperson, Giulia Messmer, accused EU states of shirking their responsibility. "Authorities are quick and effective when blocking civil rescue efforts but inactive when it comes to life and death in the Mediterranean," she said.

According to the Italian coast guard, the Sea-Watch 5 had picked up the migrants in the Libyan Search and Rescue zone and should have proceeded to the closest port in Tunisia. Authorities in Germany, the flag state of the Sea-Watch 5, had instructed the ship to head to Tunisia, a press statement by the Italian coast guard said.

When the four men were evacuated from the Sea-Watch 5, it was in the Maltese SAR area of responsibility, the statement added.

Distant port

The Sea-Watch 5 has been ordered to take the migrants who remain on board to a port on Italy’s northeastern coast. Since enacting the so-called Piantedosi law, Italy has systematically assigned ports far away from the Central Mediterranean, causing days of unnecessary travel for humanitarian ships.

Sea-Watch has complained that Italian authorities carrying out the medical evacuation refused to take the body of the boy who died on Wednesday. "We are told to hand him over in the assigned port of Ravenna. 1,500 kilometers away, over 4 days of travel. It's inhumane," the organization tweeted.

Also read: Italy fails to reduce sea-crossings via the Mediterranean

Following an earlier rescue of 70 people during two operations on Sunday (March 3), the Sea-Watch 5 was assigned to Reggio Calabria on the southern tip of Italy. Four-meter-high waves made it too dangerous for the ship to head to that port, and around 36 hours after the order, the Italian coast guard took the 70 migrants on board. They disembarked in Lampedusa, leaving the Sea-Watch 5 free to continue its mission.

In February, several non-government humanitarian organizations, including Sea-Eye, Sea-Watch, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and SOS Méditerranée, called on the Italian government to stop hindering their rescue efforts.

The organizations said ordering ships to distant ports and regularly impounding vessels was preventing them from rescuing migrants in distress at sea and leading to further deaths.

Also read: A remembrance procession in Cutro, one year after the shipwreck

The UN migration agency said this week that the Mediterranean Sea remains the most dangerous route for migrants, with at least 3,129 recorded deaths in 2023 as migrants attempted to reach Europe.