Michael Buschheuer, the chairman of Sea-Eye, said: “To help a ship in distress in the duty of anyone at sea, without regard for their origin, race, religion or beliefs”. Italian officials told Sea-Eye, a German nongovernmental organization (NGO) that operates rescue ships in the Mediterranean, that Defend Europe’s vessel “had suffered a mechanical failure and could not manoeuvre”, according to the report.
It needed to refuel earlier this week, but was stuck off the coast of Tunisia after a powerful Tunisian union and fishermen refused to allow it access to the country’s ports. In May, Italian police detained some members of Generation Identity after a Periscope live stream in which they fired flares at refugee rescue ships in the Mediterranean. Supporters of the Identitarian movement have vowed to “defend” Europe from a migrant “invasion” from Africa.
The group made no mention of how the problem was being resolved. An ironic chapter in the migrant crisis unfolded in the Mediterranean on Friday as a migrant rescue ship was called to the aid of an anti-immigration ship operated by a far-right group. In a statement, Defend Europe said it “developed a minor technical problem during the night”. NGO Sea-Eye, founded in 2015, has the goal of saving “the lives of refugees in distress during their perilous escape to Europe”. The NGO, Sea-Eye, posted a statement on their Facebook page saying they had been told by authorities to come to the rescue of the C-Star. Meanwhile Defend Europe said its vessel was suffering a “minor technical problem”, the report added.
“This means that under [maritime laws to prevent collisions] the vessel is considered “not under command” and information was sent out to vessels nearby in accordance with regulations”. “Other vessels in the area had been alerted and the problem was “about to be resolved”. The troubles for Defend Europe didn’t stop there. The group has also said it wants to expose what it describes as “collaboration” between human traffickers and privately-funded rescue ships.
X News Press
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