A group of 129 people rescued at sea by German charity Sea-Eye has been brought ashore in the port of Taranto in southern Italy.
Three other private rescue vessels are currently in the Central Mediterranean with rescued migrants on board.
According to Sea-Eye, more than half of the 129 rescuees spent 14 days at sea, the organization said on Friday, September 16. The group includes 48 unaccompanied minors.
On September 2, the crew rescued 76 people from a wooden boat, one of whom later had to be evacuated for medical reasons. Last Thursday, the Sea-Eye 4 took aboard another 54 people who had been rescued by another ship, the Rise Above of the organization Mission Lifeline.
According to Sea-Eye, the Maltese rescue coordination center didn’t assist the crew even though the ship was located in the Maltese search-and-rescue (SAR) zone during the rescue operations.
🟢 Wir sind glücklich! Die 129 Menschen an Bord der #SEAEYE4 haben Tarent als sicheren Hafen zugewiesen bekommen. Damit geht für die Menschen, die teils 13 Tage an Bord des Rettungsschiffs verbracht haben, endlich ihre Zeit auf dem Meer zu Ende. pic.twitter.com/R41vugGhBY
— Sea-Eye (@seaeyeorg) September 15, 2022