German rescuers bring 105 migrants ashore in Italy

The German aid organization Sea-Eye has brought 105 rescued migrants ashore in the southern Italian city of Naples, reported dpa.

The volunteers said they had rescued the people from distress in two operations in the central Mediterranean last week.

From one boat, the crew of the Sea-Eye 4 recovered two people who were already dead. Another person died in hospital after being taken off the Sea-Eye 4 by Italian authorities due to poor health, according to Sea-Eye.

According to Sea-Eye, Italy had initially ordered the ship to take the people to Pesaro on the Adriatic coast. According to the report, the captain protested against this, so the authorities ended up assigning the crew to Naples.

The organization accused them of prolonging the suffering of the people on board as a port in Sicily would have been much quicker to reach.

The migrants set off from the coasts of North Africa for the life-threatening crossing towards Italy and thus the EU. Rome's right-wing government wants to stop this. It wants to cooperate with the authorities of the countries of departure.

The government also tightened regulations for the civilian sea rescuers who regularly save migrants in distress from drowning in the Mediterranean.