A group of 33 asylum seekers picked up
at sea by the Louise Michel, a search-and-rescue (SAR) boat run
by a German NGO, disembarked on the Italian island of Lampedusa
overnight.
The group of 33 Egyptian asylum seekers said that they departed
from Sabratha, in Libya, on December 6, sources said.
Louise Michel said the 33 were saved from a small wooden vessel
that was in distress.
Premier Giorgia Meloni's government has taken a hard line with
NGO-run search-and-rescue ships since taking office in October.
The government has frequently refused to offer a port of safety
to these vessels and the recent case of the Ocean Viking, which
ended up docking Toulon, caused considerable tension between
Rome and Paris.
At the time of writing two NGO-run ships carrying over 500
asylum seekers, the Geo Barents and the Humanity 1, were
waiting to be assigned a port of safety.
Women and unaccompanied minors were among these people.
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