Italy has agreed that 25 migrants can be allowed to have asylum cases processed and receive medical care.
After being stranded in the Mediterranean for over a month, 25 migrants from Africa have now landed in Italy.
It informs the aid organization Mediterranea Saving Humans on Twitter.
Italy has chosen to receive the migrants for ‘health reasons’, it reads.
– After 40 days, this nightmare is finally over, the organization writes on Twitter.
? At 19.25 today the IT MRCC @guardiacostiera and @Viminale have assigned #Pozzallo as the port for the disembarkation “due to health reasons” of the 25 people still aboard of the #MareJonio. After 40 days the nightmare is finally over for the castaways of the Maersk #Etienne
— Mediterranea Saving Humans (@RescueMed) September 12, 2020
In Italy, migrants now receive medical care and can have their asylum case processed, and the authorities can investigate whether they are entitled to asylum , explains DR’s Middle East correspondent Michael S. Lund.
Diplomatic crisis with Denmark as a party
The migrants have been put ashore in the port city of Pozzallo in Sicily after staying for 24 hours on the NGO’s ship.
Before that, the migrants were on the Danish container ship Maersk Etienne for 38 days.
A pregnant woman and her husband were allowed to come ashore earlier as the woman’s condition was bad after the many days at sea.
On 4 August, Maersk had saved a total of 27 migrants from drowning in their boat in the Mediterranean, where they had sailed from Tunisia to Europe.
The conflict over the migrants arose when no European countries wanted to receive them, so they had to stay on the container ship, while Maersk and the ship’s crew became part of a larger diplomatic conflict over who should take the migrants.
– This whole case has exposed the problems that are, in relation to what should happen to migrants when a country says no to taking them. Then a shipping company like Maersk can end up having migrants on board for 38 days without being able to get anywhere, says Michael S. Lund.
– The case shows how difficult the situation in the Mediterranean is because most countries do not want to take more migrants .
