A second group of migrants left Malta for Luxembourg this morning through the ad hoc solidarity procedure that brought the week long saga surrounding the MV Lifeline to an end.
The Lifeline docked in Malta with 234 immigrants on board on 27 June, after it spent 6 days stranded in open waters as Italian and Maltese governments shifted responsibility of the ship onto each other. The ship has since been impounded, and proceedings related to the ship's registration were initiated against its captain, Claus Peter Reisch.
A press release by the Government of Malta said that the migrants were assessed by the immigration authorities of Luxembourg prior to the arrangements made for their departure. The Maltese authorities provided for all the requirements of migrants during their stay in Malta.
Whilst the press release did not specify how many migrants had departed to Luxembourg, Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel had announced on 27 June that his country would be taking in 15 of the migrants on board the Lifeline.
France, as part of this ad hoc mechanism, has already taken 52 of the migrants which arrived, whilst Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, and Norway have also committed their participation to relocate a number of migrants to their respective countries.