214 migrants on board the NGO ship Sea-Eye 4 have found a port of safety in the form of Pozzallo in Sicily, the NGO said in a statement.
The ship was assigned the port of safety on December 23rd and is scheduled to arrive on the morning of Christmas Eve.
“We hope that people will be able to go ashore soon and not have to spend the Christmas days on board,” says Gorden Isler, chairman of Sea-Eye e. V.
Many of the rescued people had to receive medical treatment aboard and they are going to continue to need medical care on land.
The crew of Sea-Eye 4 had rescued 223 people in the Maltese search, rescue and coordination zone in a total of four rescue operations on December 16 and 17, but the NGO said that Malta had refused to take over the coordination of these cases.
“While the SEA-EYE 4 waited for a whole week for the assignment a port of safety, 9 people had to be evacuated by the Italian coast guard for medical reasons in 4 medical evacuations,” the NGO said.
“We are infinitely relieved that people are finally allowed to go ashore. It is significant that even on Christmas Eve people are brought to safety by sea rescuers. The humanitarian crisis does not make Christmas vacation. We are particularly grateful to the civil society sea rescue alliance United4Rescue, who made this additional rescue mission possible. It saved the lives of another 223 people,” says Isler.
In total, the Sea-Eye 4 has rescued over 1,400 people from distress at sea during four rescue missions in 2021.