On Friday, a charity reconnaissance plane ‘Moonbird’ alerted the Louise Michel rescue ship of a boat carrying 130 refugees in the Mediterranean Sea.
The rescue ship failing to bring everyone on board was waiting for assistance from authorities in Malta and Italy to cooperate to bring the refugees safely to shores.
The ship which was just 30m long was holding 10 crew members and 219 survivors. Three of them were on life rafts with one dead person in a body bag. As they appealed for help, the government ignored their emergency calls.
Other rescue ships who were already overloaded with survivors rushed towards Louise Michel’s position to help. The Italian coastguards reached the ship around evening and evacuated a few survivors from Louise Michel.
The survivors of Louise Michel were suffering from seasickness, hypothermia, injuries, and dehydration. Some of the women on board were also pregnant. Most of them were from Libya trying to escape torture embarked on them.
The authorities of these Humanitarian organizations have spoken on how the Government has abandoned the responsibilities and callously responded to the emergency calls.
However, the government authorities have managed to deride the accusation towards these rescuers and organizations. They have been harassed and criminalized for rescuing these people.
Moreover, it has been recorded that many rescue ships have been chained on the ports and aircraft have been restricted to watch out for survivors.
Humanitarian workers have called out the EU for killing these people by not taking the necessary steps at the right time. Government officials are waiting without acting upon emergencies, leading to deaths by drowning and letting the sea do the work for them.
