International organizations are concerned about the fate of dozens of refugees whose dinghy has been missing in the Mediterranean since the weekend. „We are very concerned,“ said a spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency UNHCR yesterday. The boat had apparently capsized. The EU border protection agency Frontex said that it had already searched for the boat.
A Frontex aircraft is said to continue the search today. According to the German sea rescue organization Sea-Watch, there were probably 85 people on the inflatable boat. Sea Watch and the German organization United4Rescue said they had seen this boat and three other refugee boats in distress off the south coast of Malta this weekend.
Italy closed ports
According to Frontex, one of the remaining three boats has now reached Italy. The other two were last seen at sea. According to Sea-Watch, there were a total of 173 people on these three boats.
Italy closed all of its ports last week because of the coronavirus pandemic, including ships with people rescued from distress. The decision was heavily criticized by Sea-Watch and other sea rescue organizations.
The citizens of Italy suffering from the coronavirus crisis should not be the reason „to refuse help to those who do not run the risk of suffocating in an intensive care bed, but of drowning“, said a joint statement by the sea rescuers.
