Rights group asks Italy for safe port to rescue 800 rescued migrants 

German rescue charity Sea-Eye said today it had asked Italy for a safe port to disembark some 800 migrants it rescued from boats in distress in the central Mediterranean, Reuters reports.

The charity vessel SEA-EYE 4 took onboard another 400 people from a wooden boat yesterday night in a seventh rescue operation since it set sail in mid-October, bringing the total to around 800, Sea-Eye said in a statement.

🔴 In der Nacht zum Donnerstag retteten #SeaEye und @SEENOTRETTUNG über 4️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ Menschen aus einem doppelstöckigen Holzboot. Als die #RISEABOVE bei dem Boot eintraf, war bereits ein Leck im Boot, durch das Wasser eindrang. 1/4 pic.twitter.com/eYwVxC0pWZ

— Sea-Eye (@seaeyeorg) November 4, 2021

It said Rise Above, another rescue ship operated by NGO Mission Lifeline, reached the split-level wooden boat first, finding several migrants in the water without life jackets, at least one of whom had to be resuscitated in a lifeboat.

SEA-EYE 4 – a larger vessel – arrived shortly after and took all the migrants onboard.

“A state of emergency is now in effect on the SEA-EYE 4. Any delay by the authorities (on port access) endangers the health and lives of the rescued people and our crew,” the Sea-Eye statement said.

“Sea-Eye has already asked the rescue coordination centre in Rome for the assignment of a safe port and the German Foreign Office for urgent assistance…,” it said.

The Italian Ministry of the Interior declined to comment.

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The EU has tightened asylum rules and its external borders since more than a million refugees and migrants reached Europe across the Mediterranean six years ago, and it has cut deals with countries like Turkey and Libya for people to stay elsewhere along the global routes.

Sea-Eye said its ship was now heading to Italy’s far southern island of Lampedusa as it awaits assignment to a safe port. Lampedusa is one of the main landing points for people trying to get into Europe from Africa and Italy has repeatedly urged other states for help in better handling the issue.

So far this year, 53,836 migrants have arrived in Italy, according to interior ministry data, up from 29,267 in the same period last year.