Mediterranean death toll tops 900 after four shipwrecks in three days, IOM warns

The Open Arms NGO rescue ship, now carrying 259 refugees, ordered to sail to Sicily The Libyan Coastguard appears once again to be unable to launch a rescue mission in its waters AS THE bodies of the 114 people who died in four shipwrecks in the central Mediterranean this week began washing up on Libya’s

Sea Watch 4’s rescued refugees finally allowed to reach Italy’s shores

It’s heartbreaking to watch the rescued’s ‘belief in the goodness of humanity’ being met by Europe’s ‘cynical policy of exclusion,’ crew member says OVER 350 shipwrecked refugees rescued by an NGO vessel received news that they had finally been allowed to come ashore today, 11 days after the first group was saved in the central Mediterranean. The Italian

Malta’s three-week punishment of a merchant vessel could discourage refugee rescues, activists warn

Alarm Phone brands the stand-off, the longest before a European harbour, as ‘yet another low point in Europe’s disastrous actions in the Mediterranean’ THE near month-long stand-off between Malta and a merchant ship carrying 27 rescued refugees will discourage shipping companies from carrying out their international obligation to save lives at sea, refugee-rescuers have warned. The

Sea Watch 4 rescues over 100 refugees in less than 24 hours this weekend

Meanwhile, the Libyan Red Crescent recovers the bodies of 22 people from the Mediterranean NGO rescuers saved the lives of over 100 refugees fleeing across the central Mediterranean this weekend. The Sea Watch 4 — a rescue ship launched last week operated jointly by German charity Sea Watch and international medical organisation Doctors Without Borders

Europe’s continued blockade of NGO rescue ships condemned as 45 people die in shipwreck off Libya

“THE mountains of corpses in front of Europe’s walls are growing,” warned NGO rescuers today following the deaths of 45 people in a shipwreck off the Libyan Coast. The United Nations’ refugee agency (UNHCR) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) announced the deaths in a joint statement on Wednesday night. “Some 37 survivors –

‘The Libyan Coastguard’s interceptions of refugees couldn’t happen without Europe’s planes’

Sea Watch’s head of airborne operations TAMINO BOHM tells The Civil Fleet about Frontex’s role in forcing refugees back to hell. THE Moonbird took off from the airport on the Italian island of Lampedusa on June 25 looking for stranded refugees in the central Mediterranean. “We were on two missions that day because it was

NGOs urge supporters to demand the Italian government releases seized rescue ships

Meanwhile, the IOM and UNHCR put pressure on Malta to bring 160 refugees detained on offshore tour ships to dry land NGO refugee rescuers have demanded the Italian government release two charity ships the authorities seized earlier this month and to start supporting their humanitarian work. The Alan Kurdi and the Aita Mari were detained

The far-right and Italian spooks spied on our rescue missions

DARIUSH BEIGUI and HENDRIK SIMON, former members of the NGO rescue ship Iuventa, describe how Matteo Salvini and the Italian secret services tried to criminalise them for saving lives at sea IT’S normal now for the NGO refugee rescue ships operating in the Mediterranean to expect to be met with outright hostility by the European

Malta endangered refugees with reckless manoeuvres before forcing them to head towards Italy

MALTA’S armed forces were today accused of putting the lives of 101 refugees in danger before eventually facilitating their arrival in Italy last month. Alarm Phone, an activist network supporting refugees crossing the Mediterranean, published footage filmed by a refugee on April 11 that shows an Armed Forces Malta (AFM) ship cruising at high speeds

Awkward questions for Malta after details emerge of the ‘ghost ship’ that returned 51 refugees to Libya

AWKWARD questions have been raised over the Maltese government’s involvement in the return of refugees to Libya last week on a ship that may have tried to hide its identity. Four refugee boats attempted to cross the Mediterranean from Libya on April 9 or 10. Two of them made it to safety. One of them