Malta detains second rescue ship, as deaths top 1,000

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Malta on Monday detained a second ship seeking to rescue migrants off the coast of Libya, as the number of deaths in the Mediterranean topped 1,000 people this year.

The Sea Watch 3 vessel, operated by a German charity, requested to leave port after undergoing maintenance and the port authority refused, a Sea Watch spokeswoman said. The port authorities said only that the vessel's status was under review.

Last week, another humanitarian ship, Lifeline, was detained after Malta for the first time in years opened its port to a large number of migrants, some 230, when Italy refused it safe haven.

A nine-year-old migrant from the Central African Republic rests on the deck of the NGO Proactiva Open Arms boat, July 2, 2018. /VCG Photo

The groups operating both ships deny any wrongdoing.

"They are creating the conditions to make it impossible for non-governmental groups to operate at sea," Sea Watch's Giorgia Linardi said. "Against this background, people are dying and no one seems to care."

As many as 204 migrants have drowned since Friday in two separate incidents, after being packed into unsafe vessels by smugglers, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has said.

The incidents raised the toll for this year above 1,000 people lost at sea.

Humanitarian groups say they are being wrongly targeted by governments – Malta and Italy – that are seeking to stem migrant arrivals to Europe.

A new Italian government including the League, a far right anti-immigrant party, took power last month and has shut Italian ports to charity ships carrying migrants.

The German charity rescue ship, Sea-Watch 3, which has been detained by Maltese authorities, is seen berthed in Valletta's Grand Harbour, Malta, July 2, 2018. /VCG Photo

On Monday, Lifeline captain Claus-Peter Reisch attended a court hearing in Malta over claims the ship was not properly registered. He was released on bail but ordered to stay on his ship and cannot leave the small island state.

"What kind of world are we living in when sea rescuers are criminalized?" Reisch said in a statement before the hearing.

A humanitarian boat run by Spanish charity Proactiva Open Arms was meanwhile heading for Spain carrying 59 migrants after Italy and Malta refused it a port, the third such case in less than a month.

The flow of migrants into Europe has abated since a 2015 peak, with the number attempting the dangerous sea crossing from North Africa to Italy falling to tens of thousands from hundreds of thousands.

But the journey by land through the Sahara and then across the Mediterranean remains the world's deadliest migration route, and as polarising as ever in European politics.

Source(s): Reuters