Last weekend, the fast boat ‘Maldusa’ was able to assist around one hundred people on their arrival in Lampedusa during its first missions in the central Mediterranean. The boat will be used to support people seeking protection, provide initial material aid and document human rights violations. It is operated by the civil society welcome network of the same name with locations in Lampedusa and Palermo. The project is supported by United4Rescue, PRO ASYL and medico international.
On Saturday, 4 May 2024, the crew of the ‘Maldusa’ found a boat with 20 people, who had fled Tunisia the night before, with the help of the ‘Colibri’ reconnaissance aircraft from Pilotes Volontaires around 50 nautical miles south of the Italian island of Lampedusa. ‘We initially equipped them with life jackets on their boat and accompanied them on their journey,’ reports Jasmine Lozelli from the Maldusa crew. ‘At nightfall, we took the people directly onto the ‘Maldusa’ for safety reasons. They later moved to an Italian coastguard boat and finally arrived safely in Lampedusa’.
On Sunday, 5 May, ‘Maldusa’ – again with the help of the ‘Colibri’ – assisted two more boats, each with around forty people who had managed to leave Tunisia. They were drifting around 30 nautical miles west of Lampedusa. To ensure safety, the crew again handed out life jackets, distributed drinking water and escorted the boats until the Italian coastguard arrived.
‘As the experience of the last few days has already shown, it is useful and necessary to deploy another civilian fast boat,’ Jasmine Lozelli continues. After weeks of very bad weather and no arrivals, hundreds of people once again reached the Italian island of Lampedusa last weekend after a dangerous crossing.
As long as safe escape routes remain closed to those seeking protection, civilian boats and ships are indispensable in supporting and rescuing ‘people on the move’. Failure to provide assistance, unlawful push and pull-backs to Libya and Tunisia or the internment of newly arriving people in closed camps on Lampedusa and in in the mainland in Italy: as long as human rights violations in the central Mediterranean are part of everyday life, direct solidarity combined with consistent documentation and denounce of the situation at the side of refugees and people on the move remains necessary. This is precisely where the Maldusa project comes in.
About Maldusa
Maldusa is a welcoming network that is active at sea and on land. It maintains a social centre in the Sicilian city of Palermo and a monitoring station on Lampedusa. The new fast boat is stationed on Lampedusa for support operations. The Maldusa project is supported by United4Rescue, PRO ASYL and medico international.
Photos: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBpkG7
Press contacts:
Maldusa: Hagen Kopp, hagen@kein.org, +49 (0)172–4008990
medico international: Kerem Schamberger, schamberger@medico.de, +49 (0)160–3355989
United4Rescue: Susanne Jacoby, presse@united4rescue.org, +49 (0)151–50126724
PRO ASYL: presse@proasyl.de, +49 (0)69–24231430