(dpa/GNA) – A German-registered sailing boat has taken 34 migrants aboard in the Mediterranean Sea and is awaiting assistance from the Maltese or Italian coastguard, the organizers of the rescue mission said on Tuesday.
The 19-metre Nadir operated by Hamburg-based ResQship took the migrants off two overloaded fibreglass boats. They include 15 small children and a heavily pregnant woman.
ResQship described conditions aboard the small boat as “precarious” as it was primarily suited to observation purposes and reliant on other ships after providing immediate care to the migrants.
The migrants had been more than 30 hours aboard the Nadir, after drifting for 24 hours in the small boats from which they were rescued. Many were suffering from hypothermia, a doctor on board said.
Daniel Casingena described the condition of the pregnant woman as critical. “She is severely seasick, has problems with her circulation and is constantly losing consciousness,” he said.
Forecast poor weather with wind and waves are also causing concern.
ResQship said that Malta, in whose Search and Rescue Zone the two small boats had been drifting, was refusing assistance, as the Nadir is sailing under a German flag.
It added that the German authorities had said they were responsible only for the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, and Italy was pointing to Maltese obligations, although the Italian island of Lampedusa was the closest safe port for the Nadir.
Separately, the Sea-Watch 3, operated by the Berlin aid organization Sea-Watch, with 412 people aboard is awaiting an offer of a safe port. “We have a lot of children and young people and people with fuel burns on board,” Sea-Watch tweeted.
GNA
