The German humanitarian organization Sea-Eye has announced the rescue of 52 migrants in the central Mediterranean Sea. The operation, conducted by the Sea-Eye 4 vessel, took place in the Maltese search and rescue zone on the evening of May 20th 2024. Two of the rescued individuals required immediate medical attention.
Following the rescue, the Sea-Eye 4 is en route to the Italian port of Ravenna, with an estimated arrival on Saturday, May 25. This docking will mark the eleventh such event involving NGO ships since December 31, 2022. The Italian authorities have designated Ravenna as the disembarkation port, despite its distance of over 900 nautical miles from the rescue site. Sea-Eye has criticized this decision, highlighting the challenges posed by the long journey to the northern Adriatic coast.
The rescue mission began after Sea-Eye 4 received an emergency call from the private rescue ship Mare Go. Mare Go had encountered an overcrowded and unseaworthy fiberglass boat and provided life jackets to its occupants. With worsening weather conditions, Mare Go called for assistance, and Sea-Eye 4 arrived at the scene approximately two hours later. By 10:30 pm, the Sea-Eye 4 had successfully evacuated all individuals on the boat, which was no longer capable of reaching safety on its own.
Among the 52 rescued migrants are 46 men and six minors, aged 16 and 17, with four of the minors being unaccompanied. The group includes 26 Syrians, 19 Bangladeshis, four Palestinians, and one person each from Pakistan, Morocco, and Egypt.
Disembarkation is scheduled for around 6 pm at the Fabbrica Vecchia dock in Marina di Ravenna. Following disembarkation, the migrants will be transported by Red Cross buses to Pala De André for medical examinations, police identification, and fingerprinting. Social services from the Municipality will also be involved. The migrants will then be distributed across various provinces in the region according to a specific plan: Bologna will receive 12 people (including the four unaccompanied minors), Ferrara three, Forlì-Cesena seven, Modena eight, Parma four, Piacenza three, Reggio Emilia six, and Rimini four. Five migrants will remain in Ravenna’s Extraordinary Reception Centers (Cas).