The Sea-Watch 5 ship, with 49 migrants on board, had been assigned the port of Ravenna but had to stop on Monday at the port of Palermo due to health issues of some of the migrants on board. The Court for Minors in Palermo called for the disembarking of the minors on board.
On Tuesday (November 26), the Sea-Watch 5 ship remained docked at the port of Palermo; initially, it had been assigned to the port of Ravenna. The vessel was carrying 49 migrants rescued near Malta. However, it stopped at the Sicilian port on Monday due to health issues that some of the migrants were experiencing.
After a few hours at the port, six minors -- five of them unaccompanied -- were disembarked, as ordered by the Court of Palermo. Together with them some other migrants also disembarked, and they underwent medical examinations.
The rescue operation took place last Friday evening, after which the Sea-Watch 5 was directed to Ravenna for disembarkation. The NGO managing the ship, however, the NGO asked to disembark some of the more fragile migrants in need of medical attention in a nearer port as reaching the port of Ravenna would still take a few days of navigation.
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NGO, 'Partial disembarking is inhumane and discriminatory'
After the minors and some of the migrants for medical visits were let off the boat, the NGO refused to start sailing again with the migrants remaining on board to reach the port of Ravenna.
"Partial disembarking is inhumane and discriminatory. Let all of them get off the boat, now," is what Sea-Watch called for.
Even the Member of the European Parliament (from the Alliance of Greens and Left party) and former mayor of Palermo, Leoluca Orlando intervened saying: "The migrants who arrived in Palermo on the Sea-Watch 5 ship need to get off the boat immediately. There should not be any discriminatory approach," he noted.
According to the authorities, however, the ship should resume its navigation for the port of Ravenna, four days away. The people said they had been at sea since last Thursday.
"This absurd law against migrants, enacted to punish them and to make NGO missions harder violates the fundamental rights of the individual. We cannot ignore this issue. I want to express my sympathy to the entire Sea-Watch team. Europe cannot turn and look the other way before laws that mortify the value of human life," noted Orlando.
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Aita Mari rescues 33 off Libyan coast
On Wednesday, another humanitarian rescue ship, the Aita Mari, rescued 33 Syrian migrants, including two women and three unaccompanied minors, off the Libyan coast, according to the Spanish news agency EFE.
The ship has been assigned the port of Salerno where it is expected to arrive on Thursday, November 28.
According to a statement from the NGO Salvamento Marítimo Humanitario, a Libyan coast guard vessel approached the dinghy in a "dangerously" close manner during the rescue, causing moments of tension and panic among those on board.
The crew of the Aita Mari expedited the rescue operation to avoid Libyan intervention, completing the mission "successfully." The migrants are now safe onboard, receiving medical care, food, and water, according to the NGO as reported by EFE.