NEW YORK/AMSTERDAM/PALERMO, September 20, 2020—Italian authorities are preventing a search and rescue ship operated by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the aid organization Sea-Watch from leaving the port of Palermo, using overzealous inspections as a pretense to prevent humanitarians from saving lives in the central Mediterranean, MSF said today.
The ship, the Sea-Watch 4, is now the fifth search and rescue vessel operated by various aid organizations to be held by Italian port authorities in the last five months—a distressing trend as refugees and migrants continue to die in the central Mediterranean.
"Legitimate maritime procedures are being manipulated and abused by Italian authorities," said Ellen van der Velden, MSF operational manager for search and rescue. "Inspections of aid organizations' vessels have become a way to block search and rescue efforts."
After launching on its first lifesaving voyage on August 15, the ship rescued 354 people in the central Mediterranean, including men, unaccompanied teenagers, families, women travelling alone, people with disabilities, pregnant mothers and young children. The MSF medical team on board provided 551 medical consultations, treating many people for fuel exposure and intoxication caused by fumes from engine fuel and the corrosive mixture of fuel and saltwater.
"The wounds we treated showed the violent reality people have escaped and the dangers of the journey they are forced to take in order to seek safety," said Barbara Deck, MSF medical coordinator onboard. "It is devastating to know that European governments are doing everything they can to prevent these vulnerable people from being provided with lifesaving care."
One teenager sustained chemical burns so severe he had to be medically evacuated. Another boy had received a blow to the head from armed men that left him deaf. Yet another patient, a father, carried scars from melted plastic as a result of abuse he suffered in Libya.
The official reasons for preventing the Sea-Watch 4 from leaving Palermo are a smokescreen for a political decision aimed at preventing humanitarians from saving the lives of people in the central Mediterranean, MSF said.
"Once a rescue ship enters an Italian port, it is subjected to a lengthy and overzealous inspection until some insignificant irregularities are found," van der Velden said. "It took 11 hours of inspection on the Sea-Watch 4 yesterday to come up with sufficient infractions to prevent the ship from sailing out of the port of Palermo. We are accused of 'systematically' saving people, criticized for having too many lifejackets on board and scrutinized over the sewage system."
