Malta refuses to disembark 106 rescued migrants as NGO ship solicits Pope's intervention

Updated at 3:50pm

German rescue ship Sea-Eye 4 remains outside Maltese territorial waters with 106 migrants on board after its request to disembark the people was refused.

The ship has asked the Maltese authorities to allow the disembarkation of the migrants, including 22 children and solicited the Pope's intervention in the wake of his visit to Malta that starts tomorrow.

The Sea Eye 4 headed towards Malta after conducting two rescue operations outside Libyan territorial waters but MaltaToday understands that Maltese authorities informed the ship, Malta was not the entity responsible for the operation since the rescues happened outside its search and rescue region.

The ship was involved in the rescue of 74 people, including 22 children, from a rubber dinghy late on Wednesday. The NGO said 15 people had to be treated in the ship’s sick bay. The migrants come from Egypt, Nigeria, Sudan, South Sudan and Syria.

“If the people hadn't been rescued, it would have been very unlikely that they would have survived, because the weather has changed suddenly in the last few days,” Gorden Isler, chairman of Sea-Eye said.

The Sea-Eye 4 (Photo: Maik Ludemann/Sea Eye)

The 74 people, joined another group of 32 migrants who were transferred to the Sea-Eye 4 after being rescued by the container ship Karina on Tuesday.

The NGO said the Sea-Eye 4 is expected to enter Maltese territorial waters later on Friday, a day before Pope Francis starts a two-day visit in Malta, where migration is expected to be a central theme. However, the ship remains stranded outside Maltese waters.

“Perhaps an unequivocal appeal by the Pope to the Maltese government can make Malta, as the closest EU state, feel responsible for 106 people seeking protection,” Isler said.

The NGO said that another boat with 90 people in distress could not be located, while another boat with 145 people on board appears to have been intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard.

NGOs are critical of returning migrants back to Libya, insisting this is a violation of international law given the situation in the north African country.

MaltaToday has reached out to the Maltese government for comment.