A delegation from the
centre-left opposition Democratic Party (PD) on Monday boarded
the NGO migrant rescue ship Sea-Watch 3, which is at the centre
of a tussle between the government, opposition parties, and
human rights groups.
The president of the PD, Matteo Orfini, said that he and
fellow party bigwig Maurizio Martina had been placed under
investigation after visiting the migrant rescue ship in the
Mediterranean.
"The camps in Libya are an inferno that never ends, migrants
told us on the #SeaWatch," Orfini wrote on Twitter.
"I and @maumartina have just returned.
"Now we are registering our official addresses because it
seems we have been placed under investigation for boarding the
ship."
PD MP Davide Faraone, who accompanied the two party
heavyweights, said earlier that the PD delegation had got the
all-clear to board the ship and see for themselves the condition
of the 47 rescued asylum seekers on board.
"Meeting at the prefect's office over," Sicilian lawmaker
Faraone said via Twitter.
"A delegation of @pdnetwork will climb aboard the #SeaWatch
around 15:30. Finally!!.
The government has refused to let the migrants rescued in the
Mediterranean over a week ago to land on Italian soil, as part
of a policy of refusing access to Italy's ports to NGO-run
search-and-rescue ships.
Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has said
the Netherlands should deal with the case as the Sea-Watch ship
is flying a Dutch flag.
Toilets aboard the ship are backed up and will soon be out of
use, sources said Monday.
The toilets used by the 22 NGO staffers and 47 migrants
aboard are "close to saturation point", the sources said.
The ship cannot discharge human waste in the sea because it
is too close to land.
On Sunday a mixed group of lawmakers from other opposition
parties visited the ship, which is anchored in waters close to
the Sicilian city of Siracusa.
Earlier on Monday the Siracusa Port Authority issued a ban on
any unauthorized vessel from "navigating, anchoring, or
stopping" in the Bay of Santa Panagia, a half-mile from where
the ship is.
The ordinance specified that the "presence of and/or
navigation by other vessels around the (Sea-Watch vessel) could
create problems regarding public order and public health".
Carla Trombino, the ombudsman for children in the Sicilian
city of Siracusa, has filed an urgent petition to a Catania
court for 13 minors on board the Sea-Watch migrant-rescue ship
to be assigned to a specialist centre, sources said Monday.
The petition was presented by a lawyer, Rosa Emanuela Lo
Faro, on the grounds that the minors suffered "mistreatment and
torture" in Libya.
The lawyer also called for the maritime authorities to
declare a medical emergency for the situation of the minors.
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