Italy accepts stranded migrants after Europe agrees to share load

The 47 rescued migrants aboard the German charity Sea Watch vessel have been allowed to disembark in Italy.

The migrant rescue ship Sea Watch 3 off Syracuse yesterday. Picture: AFP

A charity ship carrying 47 rescued migrants docked in the Sicilian port of Catania yesterday, where the crew feared legal action as Italy’s far-right Interior Minister tries to stop new arrivals.

The Sea Watch 3, which had been waiting off the coast of Sicily with people it pulled to safety in the Mediterranean on January 19, was finally given permission to ­anchor in ­Catania after six other countries agreed to take them in.

The exhausted migrants, ­including 15 children, cheered and hugged the crew as the ship sailed into the harbour. Rescuers said the migrants were exhausted and some bore the scars of violence suffered in Libya.

“I foresee that there may be problems with the authorities,” Sea Watch’s mission head Kim Heaton-Heather said.

“But I am also very, very certain that in the end, no matter what ­allegations are brought against the organisation, the ship or the crew as whole, none of these allegations will stick and the truth of the matter will come out.’’

France, Germany, Malta, Portugal, Romania and Luxembourg said they would share care of the mainly sub-Saharan group. It was not clear whether Italy would also host some of them.

The ship had been sheltering from a storm off the coastal town of Syracuse, which had been ready to welcome those saved.

Mr Salvini has warned he is considering legal action against Sea Watch’s crew, accusing them of sailing straight for Italy rather than taking the migrants to closer ports in Libya or Tunisia.

The German charity says it tried but failed to get a response from Tripoli or Tunis, and yesterday launched an appeal for financial aid, tweeting “Help us with our legal costs!”

People rescued at sea have ­frequently been left in limbo since Italy’s anti-immigration government came to power in July, and on Wednesday Mr Salvini said he was looking to ban all ships with rescued migrants from entering Italian waters.

The decision to send the ship to Catania raised red flags among ­migration and legal experts who said it might be impounded, as was the case with several rescue vessels previously in different Mediterranean ports.

Should that happen, it would take the last rescue charity ship operating in the central Mediterranean out of action.

Europe has been wrestling with divisions over how to handle the problem since the migration crisis of 2015 when more than a million people arrived on its shores, many of them fleeing conflict in the ­Middle East.

In a similar case in January, the EU struck a deal to share between eight European countries nearly 50 migrants stranded aboard two ships, one of which was Sea Watch 3.

Last March the Open Arms ship was impounded as part of an ­investigation into the crew, before being released after a month.

Doctors Without Borders and SOS Mediterranee said in December that the Aquarius ship would not sail again after it had been stuck in a French port for two months following the revocation of its registration.

AFP