Charity rescues 100 at sea despite Libyan coast guard threats

ROME — A German charity said on Monday it had rescued some 100 people from a collapsing dinghy in the Mediterranean while being threatened by the Libyan coast guard.

Charity Mission Lifeline said Captain Claus-Peter Reisch and the crew of the German-flagged Eleonore vessel managed to complete the rescue despite a run-in with the coast guard, which wanted to take the migrants back to crisis-hit Libya.

“The dinghy’s air chambers were already defective and deflated,” it said on its website and Twitter account.

The charity said it was able to transfer most of the migrants from the dinghy to the Eleonore using inflatable boats, but was forced to speed up the rescue, potentially putting lives in danger.

“Some had to be transferred directly from the rubber dinghy to the Eleonore, because time was running out. 

“A military boat of the Libyan coast guard approached at full speed... and threatened the crew,” it said, sparking panic among those being rescued, who feared being forced to return to Libya.

The charity said the coast guard later backed down.

Another rescue boat, the Mare Jonio run by the Italian left-wing collective Mediterranea, tweeted it had “offered assistance” to the Eleonore, a new, 20-metre vessel with a capacity of 100 people.

Reisch also captained the charity’s previous vessel, the Lifeline, which found itself blocked at sea for days last June after rescuing 230 people off the Libyan coast.

The Lifeline, which sailed under a Dutch flag, was eventually given permission to dock in Malta, but it was seized and Reisch given a hefty fine for incorrect registration of the ship.

Reisch is appealing the fine and the vessel will not be released until the case is closed.

The charity was accused by EU leaders at the time of contravening international law by rescuing migrants when the Libyan coast guard was already intervening.

It was not clear where the Eleonore would take the newly rescued migrants, as Italy and Malta are both refusing to allow charity vessels to dock until other European countries agree to help out.

“Good that a new civil rescue asset is at sea, humiliating that EU states still don’t ensure quick disembarkations in line with the law,” fellow rescue charity Sea-Watch International tweeted on Monday.

NGOs have been scathing about the lack of coordination and solidarity among EU member states in dealing with migration stand-offs in recent years, with tens of thousands of people making the perilous trip to Europe across the Mediterranean.

On Friday, a two-week standoff was brought to an end by six EU countries agreeing to take in 356 migrants stuck off Italy’s Lampedusa island on the Norwegian-flagged Ocean Viking run by charities MSF and SOS Mediterranee.

Italy’s anti-immigration stance has largely been fuelled by outgoing, far-right interior minister Matteo Salvini.

The country’s political parties are negotiating to see if a new coalition can be put together after the collapse of the government this month — and migration is hot on the agenda.

The centre-left Democratic Party has made a radical review of Salvini’s controversial decree against charity ships a red line in any potential coalition deal.