Italy evacuates suicidal man aboard Alan Kurdi, 189 still denied safe port

A 24-year-old man was reported to have attempted suicide aboard the migrant rescue ship Alan Kurdi, which is run by Sea-Eye.

The NGO said that in her medical report, the ship’s doctor noted a severe state of anxiety, the experience of violence in a Libyan prison had made a man’s despair so unbearable that he saw no other way out for himself but commit suicide. “The patient is a danger to himself and others. We are certain that the condition will deteriorate further,” Dr Caterina Ciufegni wrote in her medical report to the Italian coast guard.

Captain Bärbel Beuse asked for the evacuation of three people on Wednesday afternoon, to which Italy replied by sending a coast guard for medical evacuation. “We are happy and grateful that Rome assessed the danger for the people who had been saved and us, as well and immediately sent a ship,” Beuse said.

But the evacuation proved to be a dramatic scene on the Alan Kurdi.

“The people are totally desperate and have been held on the Alan Kurdi for 10 days. They wanted to jump into the water to reach the Italian boats. They almost couldn’t be calmed down,” said Jan Ribbeck, manager of operations at Sea-Eye.

After two hours, the evacuation of three people was finally completed.

Five migrants were reported dead yesterday by the International Organisation of Migration after a boat of 51 survivors was rescued by a commercial vessel and brought back to Libya. Another seven migrants are believed to be missing.

The Italian government has since proposed to evacuate the Alan Kurdi migrants onto to a larger ship to be quarantined, but the evacuation has not yet taken place. “The Italian authorities are still preparing a ship onto which the 149 people can be transferred,” the German foreign office told Sea-Eye.

The ports of Italy and Malta remains closed under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, with 146 people aboard the Alan Kurdi and 43 on the Spanish rescue ship Aita Mari denied a port of safety. “No maritime rescue coordination centre took responsibility for several distress emergencies on Easter weekend. Instead of looking for 85 missing people, Malta and Italy simply denied their existence,” Sea-Eye chairman Gordon Isler said.

 “The relentless treatment of refugees currently seems to be political consensus at all EU borders. Letting people drown in the Mediterranean is not a new phenomenon and can therefore not be justified with coronavirus alone.

“The increased brutality against refugees and the new ruthlessness against rescue organizations can only be explained by assuming that it shall act as a deterrent. Solidarity among the EU member states towards Italy and Malta is long overdue,” Isler said.