Italy has placed the German migrant
rescue ship Sea-Eye 4 under administrative detention for 20 days
and fined the NGO operator 3,000 euro for allegedly ignoring
orders from the Libyan coast guard, Sea Eye said in a statement
on Tuesday.
This is the third time the ship has been sanctioned since Italy
introduced new rules for private vessels on migrant search and
rescue operations in the central Mediterranean at the start of
this year.
The Sea-Eye 4 is being held at the Calabrian port of Vibo
Valentia.
"The Italian coast guard accuses the crew of failing to follow
the instructions of the so-called Libyan Coast Guard" who, with
the "threat of violence", had "asked Sea-Eye 4 in international
waters" to move northwards and had then chased "a dinghy
carrying around 50 people" to the point that "panic broke out
and some people fell into the water", the Regensburg-based NGO
said in the statement.
Sea Eye also said it has published a video "clearly showing the
Libyans performing dangerous manoeuvres in the immediate
vicinity of the dinghy".
The Sea-Eye 4 docked in Vibo Valentia on Sunday evening carrying
52 migrants and refugees rescued in the Strait of Sicily on
Friday.
The boat also carried the bodies of four people who drowned
after falling into the water in panic, while others were said to
be missing..
One woman, a Nigerian in the seventh month of pregnancy, was
medically evacuated to Lampedusa in critical condition on
Saturday.
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