Malta, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany and the European Union, on Wednesday, refused to welcome two ships carrying 49 illegal immigrants who were rescued off the coast of Libya.
The two ships are owned by two German non-governmental organizations, and that the two of them have spoken to the previously mentioned countries to seek a dock refuge at their ports after the weather in the Mediterranean had deteriorated, but they have not received a response from those countries, according to the new agency ANSA.
Chairman of the “Sea Eye” NGO, Jan Ribbeck, said he was “disappointed by the Bremen Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre” because it did not allow the ships to dock at a European port and told them to follow the orders of the Libyans.
He added that the organization’s volunteers “oppose the return of the migrants they had rescued them to the Libyan coastguard forces” because it was “a violation of international law,” he said.
In December, the two ships belonging to the “Sea Watch” and the German “Sea Eye” rescued 49 migrants in two separate operations near the Libyan coast.
