Guardia Civil officers have arrested a merchant vessel’s captain in the waters off the Cartagena coast. He was detained as he was suspected to be a human trafficking perpetrator.
On Sunday, two humanitarian rescue vessels pulled out almost 450 migrants onboard an overcrowded wooden boat. The boat was sailing in the Mediterranean Sea.
Over 70 people jumped off the Spanish charity’s rescue ship Open Arms on September 17, 2020, in an attempt to swim to the shore of Palermo as their entry into the city of Malta was refused.
ECSA and the ETF wrote to EU Vice President Margaritis Schinas and Commissioner Ylva Johansson, voicing their grave concern about the humanitarian crisis on board the oil tanker Maersk Etienne.
96 migrants were rescued by Greek coast guards in a nighttime rescue operation as the yacht carrying them partially sank in the Aegean sea, possibly due to overload.
Clandestine migration has been a problem for the transport sector across Europe for some time now. While more stringent border crossing checks have been imposed due to the current COVID crisis, the risk to operators is not diminished.
A record number of migrants and asylum-seekers were picked up from small boats attempting to make the perilous crossing of the English Channel to reach Britain on just one day.
More than 30 young Venezuelans are feared to have drowned while making the crossing to Trinidad after the fishing vessel carrying them capsized in rough seas five kilometres from the Venezuelan coast.
As the issue of migrants and loss of lives at sea is becoming grim, here’s a twenty three points guide for merchant ships to attempt a large scale rescue at sea and dealing with refugees or migrants.