An Italian prosecutor on Tuesday ordered the more than 80 remaining migrants on the Open Arms charity vessel to disembark in Sicily after the ship was stranded for days off Lampedusa.
Prosecutor Luigi Patronaggio also ordered the vessel preventatively seized after inspecting the boat on which some of the migrants have spent 19 days and “given the difficult situation on board,” a judicial source said.
The migrants are expected to be removed from the boat on Tuesday night, the prosecutor’s office said, but details were yet to be formalised.
The Spanish charity boat has repeatedly asked for the migrants to be allowed ashore, but hasn’t been able to do so because of an Italian ban on private rescue ships.
Earlier on Tuesday, Spain dispatched a naval vessel to the Italian island to bring the stranded migrants to Mallorca after some of them jumped overboard, amid a prolonged stand-off with Italy’s government over their fate.
4 migrants jumped off the #OpenArms in a desperate bid to reach #Lampedusa swimming - Italy continues to block entry into its ports #SAR #med #Mediterranean #searescue pic.twitter.com/YQgOvXwUf9
InfoMigrants (@InfoMigrants) August 19, 2019
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and REUTERS)
