The Alan Kurdi, operated by German group Sea-Eye, has been refused entry by Italy and Malta. Italy has ordered 156 migrants on board a German rescue ship off the western coast of Sicily to be transferred to another vessel and quarantined. The migrants, mostly from Africa and the Middle East, must then undergo health checks, Italian officials said. The German rescue vessel, Alan Kurdi, has been refused access to Italian and Maltese ports over coronavirus fears.
Italy’s transport ministry said the move was necessary because Sicily’s health services were already stretched. Allowing the migrants to disembark from the Alan Kurdi ship, operated by the German humanitarian group Sea-Eye, would put too much pressure on the island’s local authorities, Italy’s civil protection chief Angelo Borrelli said.
Mr Borrelli signed a document on Sunday ordering the Coast Guard, with the assistance of the Italian Red Cross, to provide a ship “in the next few hours” to quarantine and test the 156 migrants near Italian territorial waters, local media report. No decision has been made about the final destination of the migrants, who were rescued from small boats in distress off the Libyan coast, officials said.
Italy has previously said that migrants rescued and brought to its shores become the responsibility of the European Union (EU) and should be fairly distributed among member states. Sea-Eye has also called on EU leaders to find a more permanent solution to the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean.
Source: BBC
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