The Aurora, operated by the organization Sea-Watch, was detained on the island of Lampedusa on Wednesday evening, the aid group said on Thursday (June 15). The reason authorities gave was that the ship’s crew had disregarded a government decree.

According to the controversial law, introduced by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government, the Aurora should have proceeded directly to the port of Trapani in Sicily following the rescue of 39 migrants on Monday night.

Instead the crew decided to head for nearby Lampedusa, as they said the migrants, who included unaccompanied minors and a pregnant woman, needed medical attention.

“It would have taken us 32 hours to reach Trapani safely,” Sea-Watch tweeted.

“As we have repeatedly communicated to the authorities, such a long navigation would have represented a danger to the people rescued, without shelter from waves and bad weather.”

Migrant boat had no fuel, food or water

On Tuesday Sea-Watch reported that all the rescued people had safely disembarked in Lampedusa. The migrants had been found adrift in an unseaworthy boat. All their fuel, food and water had been used up.

They were discovered by a civil rescue vessel operating in the Mediterranean, the Rise Above, run by the German aid group German Mission Lifeline, which gave life-jackets to the migrants and alerted Sea-Watch.

The Aurora is a 14-meter patrol boat which Sea-Watch says is unsuitable for long voyages, comparing the vessel to an ambulance. The boat’s first Mediterranean rescue mission was in May, 2022.

The Aurora has been impounded for 20 days and its crew has been fined, according to the organization. Italian authorities recently also temporarily detained two other German ships, the Mare*Go (formerly called Mare Liberum) in Lampedusa and Sea-Eye 4 in Ortona.

Humanitarian groups and sea rescue charities have criticized the Italian decree and claim they have been subjected to harassment by the government which is using it to keep foreign aid organizations from rescuing migrants.

Also read: Italy: New law curtails migrants’ rights

Italy insists volunteer rescuers are breaking rules and not cooperating with authorities.

According to the Italian interior ministry, more than 50,000 migrants have reached Italy on boats since the beginning of the year. In the same period last year the number of arrivals recorded was 19,600.

With dpa