The Italian-flagged NGO boat travels to the Sar area accompanied by the Migrants of the Catholic Church. A letter arrived with Pope Francis’ blessing for the search and rescue operation.
The new mission of tracking, searching and migrant rescue of the Mare Ionio vessel of the NGO Mediterranea Saving Humans It left the port of Trapani on Friday night. This is the 18th operation since 2018 of the only civil fleet ship flying the Italian flag. This is a mission of special relevance: for the first time, the Mare Jonio He is accompanied on his route by a support sailboat organized by the Migrants Foundation of the Italian Catholic Churchwith functions of observation and documentation, information and testimony.
A few hours after their departure, the Mediterranean and Migrant Mission received an extraordinary message of “good wind.” Pope Francis, Through Father Mattia Ferrari, he wrote to the crew. “I wish you the best and send my blessing to the crew of Mediterránea Saving Humans and Migrants. I pray for you. Thank you very much for your testimony. May the Lord bless you and the Virgin protect you. Fraternally, Francisco.”
The Mare Jonio ship and the Migrantes sailboat They will arrive in the Sar area of operations, south of Lampedusa, on Saturday afternoon.
In 2024 more than a thousand people died in the Mediterranean
“Despite the silence that seems to have been made about the permanent humanitarian crisis in our sea, the mission intervenes in a dramatic situation,” comments the NGO. According to the latest data published by the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM), from the beginning of 2024 until August 17, More than a thousand people have died or are missing in the Central Mediterraneanwhile almost 14,000 have been captured at sea and deported to Libya’s infamous prison camps.
According to data provided by the Tunisian authorities themselves, more than thirty thousand people left Tunisia and were intercepted on land or in water. For many of them, destiny, comments the NGO, It was deportation and abandonment in the desert. Faced with the “reduction of landings in Italy”, claimed by the Italian Government, there is a increased violence and suffering of people on the move and, proportionally, also the number of lives lost compared to previous years, argues Mediterranea Svaning Humans, which adds: this is a direct consequence of the agreements reached by the Italian governments and the European institutions with the militias and regimes of Libya and Tunisia.
Avoid returns to unsafe ports
“To the priority objective of the mission of safeguarding at all costs each and every human life in danger at sea,” explains Laura Marmorale, president of Mediterranea Saving Humans, “is added the prevent the interception and return of migrants to ‘unsafe’ ports and countries, like Libya and Tunisiawhere fundamental rights are denied and people’s own safety is endangered daily. Interceptions and rejections that are open violations of international, humanitarian and maritime law.
