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A rescue ship funded by British street artist Banksy to help migrants stranded in the Mediterranean Sea issued a distress call on Saturday for European authorities to allow the overcrowded ship to reach port, setting up another possible standoff over the Europe’s stricter rules on opening its borders to refugees. and others.
Louise Michel, a German flag, set out on Thursday to help more than 80 people left in a rubber boat.
He then came across a ship traveling from North Africa to Europe with 130 people on board and some bodies of people who had died during the voyage, according to Louise Michel’s Twitter account.
The 101-foot Louise Michel, with 10 crew members, quickly overshot and was unable to drive properly, Twitter posts said.
La Louise Michel “is unable to move, no longer the master of her maneuvering, due to her crowded deck and a life raft deployed next to her, but mostly because Europe ignores our emergency calls for immediate assistance. Responsible authorities continue without responding, “the ship’s Twitter account wrote on Saturday.
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On Saturday, the ship was at sea about 55 miles (88.51 km) southeast of Lampedusa, an Italian island off the coast of North Africa that has become a migratory transit point, according to the website. world ship tracking Marine Traffic cited by France 24.
Thousands of people have died making the dangerous journey from the Middle East and Africa across the Mediterranean Sea to reach the shores of Europe.
Santi Palacios / AP
The Louise Michel “cannot move,” the ship’s Twitter account wrote on Saturday.
Migrants, refugees and asylum seekers can spend thousands of dollars for space in a crowded dirty or old boat. Smugglers abandon them at sea when leaks occur or fuel runs out.
At least 500 people have died so far this year in the Mediterranean Sea, although the number is likely to be higher, aid groups say. Last year, more than 100,000 people tried to cross and at least 1,283 people died, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
In recent months, European and non-governmental rescue operations have been suspended or greatly reduced due to the coronavirus pandemic. Some migrants and refugees who arrived in Italy and Greece, a common entry point to Europe, tested positive for the virus that causes Covid-19.
Refugee advocates have accused some European countries of using the new coronavirus as a pretext to halt migration, such as preventing non-governmental organization rescue boats from docking.
But the anguished people keep coming.
On August 17, at least 45 people, including 5 children, were killed when their ship capsized off the coast of Libya, where many ships bound for Europe originate from. The United Nations said it was the deadliest shipwreck in Libya this year. In response, the IOM and the UN refugee agency issued a statement calling for an “urgent need to strengthen the current search and rescue capacity to respond to calls for help.”
“There remains a continued absence of any specific search and rescue program led by the EU,” the statement continued. “We fear that without an urgent increase in search and rescue capacity, there is a risk of another disaster similar to the incidents that caused a great loss of life.”
International agencies praised the NGO-led ships for playing “a crucial role in saving lives at sea amid a sharp reduction in efforts led by European states” and called on governments not to restrict or sanction their work.
The Louise Michel is painted pink and white and features original Banksy artwork – a mural of a girl wearing a life jacket and holding a heart-shaped safety buoy. The former French patrol boat is named after a French feminist anarchist and is comparatively faster than other rescue boats, according to The Guardian.
“Like most successful people in the art world, I bought a yacht to cross the Mediterranean,” Banksy wrote on Instagram Saturday in captions accompanying a video of the ship mixed with images of people stranded at sea.
“Because the EU authorities deliberately ignore calls for help from ‘non-Europeans’,” he continued. “All black lives matter.”
Greece and Italy were the main access routes to Europe during a massive wave of migration from the Middle East and Africa through the Mediterranean Sea in 2015. In response, European countries made agreements with Libya and Turkey to stop the flow of people from their coasts. Refugee advocates claim that, in practice, these agreements often violate the human rights of refugees and asylum seekers.
