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Médecins Sans Frontières protests against detention

The Swiss charity group Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) is strongly denying the latest allegations from Italy that the 'Geo Barents' failed to comply with instructions as the organization protested another detainment issue by the Italian Coast Guard. The vessel was ordered held for 20 days after disembarking its latest group of migrants rescued from the Central Mediterranean. The detention of the 'Geo Barents' marks the 20th time that a humanitarian rescue ship has been detained since the enforcement of a new Italian law in early 2023. Italy in 2023 imposed new restrictions on the operations of the rescue vessels, including often ordering them to distant ports for disembarkation and requiring cooperation with the Libyans and others. According to the group, the 'Geo Barents' conducted three rescue missions on March 16 starting with coming across a small fiberglass boat overloaded with 28 people in distress. Shortly after that, they came across a wooden boat loaded with 146 people. Determining the boat was in distress, the 'Geo Barents' began a rescue mission when they reported the so-called Libyan Coast Guard arrived on scene. They contended the Coast Guard patrol vessel tried to stop the rescue, attempted to board one of MSF’s rescue boats, and threatened to arrest and take the people being rescued as well as the MSF staff to Libya. The standoff went on for about two hours, but the vessel was able to rescue the 146 people. Later that night, they found another fiberglass boat with 75 people. The boat had capsized, and 45 people were in the water. The G'eo Barents' saved those people. With 249 survivors aboard, they were ordered by the Italians to sail to Marina Di Carrara, where the people were disembarked and the detention order issued. Italy accused the 'Geo Barents' of failing to comply with instructions issued by the o-called Libyan Coast Guard. The detention said the 'Geo Barents' team endangered the lives of the survivors during the rescue operation. MSF responded by accusing the Italian authorities of systematic collusion with the so-called Libyan Coast Guard. They were calling on the authorities to immediately stop obstructing NGO lifesaving assistance. The group pointed out that it has been active in SAR activities since 2015 working with a total of eight different rescue vessels and rescuing more than 91,000 people.

NGO ship detained after arrival in Carrrara

The 'Geo Barents' arrived in Marina di Carrara on March 20 with 249 migrants who were rescued off the coast of Libya. Of the migrants rescued, 80 were minors (63 males and 17 females, one of which was pregnant and one was the mother of an 11-month-old girl). After it had berthed at 6.20 a.m. UTC, it was detained for 20 days for not having observed the instructions of the so-called Libyan Coastguard on March 16 and having put the rescued people in danger. The captain of the 'Geo Barents' was accused of not having gone to the nearest safe port assigned. The infringement emerged following the specific checks that the Coast Guard and the Flying Squad carried out at the time of the disembarkation of the migrants: from the control of the logbook and through comparison with the data relating to the ship's movements recorded by the GPS, it was possible to verify how many migrants and in which areas they were rescued. The infringement alleged against the 'Geo Barents' falls within the second paragraph of decree no. 1/2023, requested by Minister Piantedosi and refers in this specific case to the choice of the captain not to comply with the requests of the SAR authority (zones for research and rescue at sea - Search and Rescue). The crime was allegedly committed in the waters off the coast of Libya.

So called Libyan Coast Guard threatened NGO ship during resuce operation

On March 16, the 'Geo Barents' was threatened by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard during the rescue of 150 migrants who were in distress on a wooden boat. While the rescue was in full swing, the so-called Libyan Coast Guard approached with the patrol boat 'LCG-302', which had been handed over by Italy and carried out dangerous maneuvers, pursued the RHIBs and even tried to board one of the RHIBs. After more than two hours, the so-called Libyan Coast Guard boat finally left the scene, but not without threatening the crew with consequences. In total, the 'Geo Barents' has rescued 246 people from distress at sea with three boats since March 16. During one of the rescues, around 45 people fell into the water, but fortunately everyone was able to be brought to safety on the 'Geo Barents' which demanded that a nearby safe harbor be allocated so that the rescued people can be brought to shore as quickly as possible.