The Italian aid organization Emergency has rescued more boat migrants from distress in the central Mediterranean.
The team took 72 men on board in international waters between Malta and Tunisia early on Monday morning, Emergency said. The majority of them were from Pakistan. The migrants said they had left Libya on Saturday evening on a wooden boat bound for Lampedusa.
Emergency’s ship, Life Support, now has 140 rescued migrants on board. The organization says it is now on its way to the port of Livorno in Tuscany, which the Italian authorities had previously assigned to it.
Another vessel, belonging to the German NGO Sea-Eye, is also on its way to Livorno with 63 rescued migrants on board. Both ships are several days’ journey away from the port.
According to media reports, Italy’s right-wing government wants to introduce new regulations for civilian sea rescuers, whose operations it has repeatedly criticized.
According to the report, under the new law crews would have to request ports after their first rescue. It has also been suggested that they should be required to ask the people they rescue whether they wish to apply for international protection, which would mean the flag state of the rescue ships would take over responsibility for taking them in.
The government in Rome says it wants to help migrants more quickly in this way, but it is also likely that the ships will rescue fewer people.
