In this image taken late Thursday, June 27, 2019 and made available Friday, June 28, 2019, a migrant on a stretcher is carried onto an Italian Coast G...
In this image taken late Thursday, June 27, 2019 and made available Friday, June 28, 2019, a migrant on a stretcher is carried onto an Italian Coast Guard boat from the German Sea-Watch 3 rescue ship in Italian waters off the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, southern Italy. The German captain Carola Rackete brought the ship into Italian waters without permission out of necessity, citing both the psychological state of the rescued passengers and the worsening humanitarian conditions on board. (Till Egen/Sea-Watch.org via AP)
In this image taken late Thursday, June 27, 2019 and made available Friday, June 28, 2019, a migrant on a stretcher is carried onto an Italian Coast G...
In this image taken late Thursday, June 27, 2019 and made available Friday, June 28, 2019, a migrant on a stretcher is carried onto an Italian Coast Guard boat from the German Sea-Watch 3 rescue ship in Italian waters off the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, southern Italy. The German captain Carola Rackete brought the ship into Italian waters without permission out of necessity, citing both the psychological state of the rescued passengers and the worsening humanitarian conditions on board. (Till Egen/Sea-Watch.org via AP)
MILAN (AP) — Two more migrants have been evacuated from a German rescue ship overnight for medical reasons, leaving 40 passengers who were saved off Libya 16 days ago still blocked offshore by Italy's refusal to let them disembark.
Sea-Watch 3 captain Carola Rackete has twice defied direct orders from port authorities, first not to enter Italian waters and second in her attempted approach to the port of Lampedusa, Italy's southernmost island. Law enforcement who boarded the ship Thursday evening asked for patience, saying a resolution appeared near, but none came overnight.
It is the latest stand-off between Italy's hard-line interior minister and humanitarian rescue ships that the populist government accuses of aiding migrant traffickers. The EU has urged Italy to bring the migrants to land.
