#CrimesOfMalta: Two boats are simultaneously in severe distress in the Maltese rescue zone. While 108 people on one boat are being rescued by a civilian oil tanker, 72 people on the other boat are being pushed back to Libya by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard.
24.07.2020:
An inflatable boat with 108 persons as well as a wooden boat with 72 persons get into distress at sea in close proximity to each other. In both cases the people had called Watch The Med – Alarmphone, which alerted the authorities. When the crew of the Moonbird discovered the people in both cases, they were only 2 nautical miles apart from each other.
An Italian-flagged oil/chemical tanker close by, the Cosmo, was ordered by the Maltese Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC) to monitor both cases. After several hours and a situation of serious danger due to a deflated hose, in which people already had to use their hands to take water out of the boat, the 108 people were rescued by the merchant vessel. However, the 72 people in the other distress case on the wooden boot were intercepted in the Maltese SAR zone by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard and disembarked in Libya. During the interception, the so-called Libyan coast guard also asked Cosmo to hand over the persons of the first emergency to them. This request was rejected by the captain of the Cosmo and they were disembarked in Italy.
In the series #CrimesOfMalta, we reconstruct 10 human rights violations in 10 weeks, which were also witnessed by our airplane Moonbird. The case reconstructions will be collected on our website and accompanied politically and philosophically on taz blogs.
