User:Calfux22/Mediterranea Saving Humans

Mediterranea Saving Humans APS is a «platform of civil society organizations» and «non governmental action». It was founded to monitor the situation in the Mediterranean sea and to save the lives of people after most other NGOs were no longer able to act due to the legal barriers posed by the Italian authorities in 2018. In order to do this work the group manages the ships Mare Jonio and Alex under an Italian flag. The project collaborates with the German organization Sea-Watch and the Spanish Proactiva Open Arms.

May 2019
On 9 May 2019, the crew of Mare Jonio and the Italian Coast Guard saved 66 people whose dinghy had capsized off the Libyan coast. The ship took 30 people on board. The Ministry of the Interior announced that neither boat would be allowed to bring the people to shore, but subsequently they were authorized to do so. The ship then headed north where it was intercepted by the Italian authorities and then escorted to Lampedusa. On the evening of 10th October the ship was impounded and an investigation for aiding and abetting illegal immigration was opened. On13 May the Attorney general of Agrigento rejected the preventive seizure of the ship due to lack of evidence.

July 2019
On 5 July 2019, the sailing yacht Alex, which was only supposed to accompany the Mare Jonio, reached the waters near Lampedusa with fifty-four people aboard, who had been picked up the previous day. As had just happened with Sea-Watch 3, the authorities initially used permission to enter. The Italian government refused to allow people to disembark in Lampedusa and referred to Malta, 100km away, as an alternative. Alessandra Sciurba, the organization's spokesperson, declared the journey was too long and impossible for the passengers. On the afternoon of 6 July 2019, the captain Tommaso Stella entered the port of Lampedusa without permission. The boat was carrying over three times the capacity approved by the 11 crew members. From a maritime point of view, therefore, it was not admissible to refuse permission.