After more than two months of administrative detention, the Open Arms was “released”. The humanitarian ship of the Catalan NGO of the same name was blocked in the port of Pozzallo, in the Ragusa area, from April 16; that is, since, at the end of the usual inspection that the Italian Coast Guard carries out on NGO ships after a rescue operation and the subsequent crew quarantine period, “serious deficiencies in the safety of navigation” were found. A formula that, in reality, is almost always proposed for NGO ships at the end of a rescue operation in the central Mediterranean, to the point that the complaint made by the NGOs themselves is that while during Salvini’s era at the Viminale ships with migrants on board were allowed to enter ports, now in the era of Lamorgese management humanitarian ships are not allowed to leave ports.
The Coast Guard itself announced today the removal of the administrative detention order, with a statement in which it explains that “the inspectors returned on board yesterday and after verifying that the deficiencies found during the inspection over two months ago, they released the ship that will now be able to leave the port. The release of the situation – underlines the Coast Guard – was also possible thanks to the constant dialogue between the General Command and Spain, flag state of the Open Arms ».
The ship, as the founder of the Catalan NGO, Oscar Camps said, has already returned to sea and is headed to Castellon, Spain, for «maintenance work and to be able to return to the Mediterranean as soon as possible. Open Arms free, every life counts, ”he tweeted.
The League, however, is not there and, the first signatory, the Sicilian deputy Nino Minardo, has made it known that he had submitted a question to the Minister of the Interior “to know the details of the inspection that formalized the overcoming of the serious deficiencies of the NGO ship Catalana, subject to administrative detention in the port of Pozzallo (Rg). Critical issues both for the safety of navigation and for the protection of the marine environment ».
There are currently no NGO ships in the central Mediterranean. Either because they are subject to administrative detention in Sicilian ports or because they are only authorized to go to the ports of Spain or France for maintenance. Despite this, the departures of migrants from Libya and Tunisia have continued, slowed only by the suboptimal sea conditions and the intense activity of the Libyan Coast Guard and the Tunisian Navy, which have brought back dozens of boats.