Malta abandons 80 people in distress in its search-and-rescue area

The island nation orders merchant vessel not to help them. Meanwhile, over 700 rescued refugees on two NGO ships wait for land MALTA has abandoned about 60 to 80 people stranded within in its Mediterranean search-and-rescue (SAR) area today and ordered a merchant vessel not to help them, activists have warned. Alarm Phone, an activist

European authorities deny safety to over 800 refugees in the Mediterranean on World Refugee Day

The Aita Mari, Sea-Eye 4, Nadir and Sea-Watch 4’s calls for a port have fallen on deaf ears WORLD REFUGEE DAY was marked today by the European authorities continuing to refuse to provide safety to over 800 refugees on four rescue ships in the central Mediterranean. The Aita Mari rescue ship has been at sea

Refugees ‘systematically subjected to a litany of abuses’ from the moment they enter Libya, new UN report warns

Sea-Watch’s reconnaissance plane convinces a merchant vessel not to abandon 70 people in the Mediterranean MIGRANTS and refugees heading to Europe are “systematically subjected to a litany of abuses” from the moment they enter Libya, the UN warned today. A fact-finding report commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council and published today states that “the

Newborn baby among the 189 refugees civilian rescuers have saved in the Mediterranean since Saturday

Three NGO ships — the Ocean Viking, Nadir, and Geo Barents — operate with little to no help from the state authorities CIVILIAN rescuers have saved the lives of close to 189 refugees, including at least 20 unaccompanied children and a newborn baby, in the Mediterranean since Saturday. The rescues were carried out without the

European authorities ignored civilian rescuers’ mayday calls while they saved hundreds of refugees at the weekend

500 others still stranded in Malta’s waters, Alarm Phone warns CIVILIAN rescuers saved the lives of over 800 refugees in the central Mediterranean at the weekend with no help from the European authorities, who ignored their mayday calls and helped the Libyan Coastguards return hundreds of people to the war-torn country. The Sea-Watch 3, a

Fury after Malta leaves rescuers ‘in the dark’ searching for 46 refugees it had already saved

Meanwhile, at least 57 lives are lost in a shipwreck off Libya’s coast THE MALTESE authorities deliberately left civilian rescuers searching for hours for 46 refugees that had already been picked up by the authorities. Malta‘s Home Affairs Ministry confirmed today that an Armed Forces Malta (AFM) patrol boat had brought the people to safety

Witnessing a dereliction of duty

Eyewitnesses tell The Civil Fleet how passing ships and the Maltese authorities tried to abandon stranded refugees LAST SATURDAY morning, a rubber boat sailing away from war-torn Libya carrying 109 people contacted the distress hotline operated by the activist network Alarm Phone. “The weather is rapidly deteriorating,” Alarm Phone tweeted soon after the call. “The

Witnessing the Libyan Coastguard harassing an NGO refugee rescue mission

EIKE tells The Civil Fleet what he saw from the reconnaissance aircraft Seabird in Malta’s SAR zone last Friday IT WAS an eventful couple of days in the Mediterranean waters off Malta’s southern coast this weekend. Over 140 people in two overcrowded rubber boats were saved by a coalition of civilian refugee rescue organisations within

Another desperate weekend at Europe’s borders for refugees and the activists trying to save them

Hundreds returned to war-torn Libya by EU-supported coastguard while the Alan Kurdi rescue ship is detained in Italy for the second time this year IT WAS another fraught weekend for refugees attempting to reach Europe by sea and for the activists trying to help them. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) confirmed on Sunday that the