You cannot ignore 141 rescued at sea, Aquarius tells EU governments

Two humanitarian NGOs have called on European governments to agree on a safe port where a vessel carrying 141 rescued migrants can dock. Doctors without Borders (MSF) and SOS Mediterranee, two NGOs which jointly operate the sea rescue vessel Aquarius, said on Sunday that they were still waiting for a place to take the rescued people, who they said had been intentionally ignored by other vessels and even Libya’s own coast guard while out at sea. The Aquarius rescued 25 migrants, including six woman, from a small wooden boat about 25 nautical miles off the Libyan coast on Friday. Later that day, a further 116 were rescued from another small boat in the area. More than half the people on the second boat were minors. The captain of the Aquarius subsequently contacted authorities in Italy, Malta, Tunisia and Libya, MSF said in a statement. Libya’s Joint Rescue Coordination Centre took charge of the mission and told the Aquarius to find another country to dock in, the NGO said.“European governments have put all their efforts into propping up the Libyan JRCC, however Friday’s events show that they do not have the capacity to fully coordinate a rescue,” said MSF project coordinator...