Italy grants transfer authorisation for 105 people rescued at sea

chika ebuzor

May 7, 2018 9:25 PM

The migrants, who were rescued by a Spanish aid group, were left on the Mediterranean Sea, aboard a boat for over a day due to bureaucratic bottlenecks.

The Italian coast guard has given a go ahead for 105 migrants rescued at sea to be transferred to a stronger boat.

While transferring them to the Aquarius, a better rescue ship used by SOS Mediterranee, a French nonprofit group, the Spanish non-profit group, Proactiva Open Arms said that the migrants were in stable condition.

Proactiva Open Arms also revealed that the migrants are made up of: six children and 32 teenagers.

The delay in the transfer of the migrants was because Britain said it was not coordinating any rescue of migrants when approached by Italian coast guard to get authorisation.

Both boats, Aquarius and Astral sailed under British flags, ABC News reports.

Speaking on the incident, Astral's captain, Riccardo Gatti said "They are throwing the ball at each other and we are in the middle.”

Gatti also blamed the Italian and British authorities for letting the migrants stay at sea for over 30 hours after they were rescued from a drifting rubber boat that had no engines.

The migrants are from Bangladesh, Egypt, Libya, Nigeria and other countries.

Italy blames Britain

The Italian coast guard blamed British authorities for the delay in the transfer of the migrants.

ABC also reports that “The coast guard issued a second statement saying it had allowed for the transfer because of the late hour and because British authorities hadn't given any indication on how to proceed.”

It is SOS Mediterranee’s procedure "to wait for a green light from the coordinating authority (usually the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Center) before proceeding with a transfer or rescue operation,"Matthew Carter, a communications officer with the NGO said.

He also said that “his organization had informed all parties that in the event of an emergency it planned to take all rescued people on board without pre-authorization.”

Masiyiwa’s solution to migrant crisis

Meanwhile, Econet CEO Strive Masiyiwa has suggested mentoring of young people across Africa on entrepreneurship and enterprise management as an effective solution to managing the migration crisis in the region.

In a recent interview with the Cable News Network (CNN), Masiyiwa also stated that many of Africa’s youth perish in their quest of crossing to Europe.

He therefore called on African youth to stop this dangerous journey and stay on the continent.

chika ebuzor