Migrants rescued at sea on Friday face the possibility of spending Christmas stranded upon a rescue boat after Malta denied them entry.
German migrant rescue charity Sea-Eye rescued 223 migrants, including seven pregnant women and eight children, in four operations off Malta earlier this week.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, the NGO said “while many children here in Germany are already looking forward to the Christmas traditions with the family, at the same time 8 children are sitting on board our SEA-EYE 4.”
One of the children has a broken arm and another has a broken finger, Sea-Eye said, adding that some adults are being treated for severe burns.
Moreover it said that its crew is currently searching for another boat in distress.
Sea-Eye said that more boats with numerous people in acute danger of death have been reported over the weekend.
“While crews of civil sea rescue organizations are fighting for every life, Malta is once again failing to fulfill its obligation to coordinate and rescue sea emergencies,” the NGO said.
“As the weather is expected to deteriorate significantly soon, the chances of survival for the people still at sea decrease significantly.”
Malta and other European countries often refuse entry to migrants rescued at sea as this year is shaping up to be the deadliest year in the central Mediterranean since 2017 with at least 1,340 people having drowned or gone missing according to IOM statistics.
Between January and May more than 25,000 asylum seekers have been intercepted by the EU-backed Libyan Coast Guard and returned to detention centres in Libya.
Although the Armed Forces of Malta denies it ever denied rescue or pushed back people at sea to Libya, last month, a damning report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) exposed a different reality.
The report said delays in assisting migrant vessels in distress, as well as incidents of migrant vessels being turned away by European authorities, are a common occurrence.
SOURCE: Newsbook
