MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th August, 2020) The Doctors Without Borders (MSF) global humanitarian organization on Sunday called on European countries to provide over 350 undocumented migrants rescued in the Mediterranean Sea with a safe place as the Sea-Watch 4 rescue ship carrying them has been stranded at sea.
Earlier in the day, the MSF said that over 350 survivors, including pregnant women and children, who were denied a place of safety in Europe, were already on board the Sea-Watch 4 ship. The organization provided them with medical assistance, treating people for fuel burns, dehydration, hypothermia and traumatic injuries.
"More than 350 rescued people on board #SeaWatch4 urgently need a place of safety. Some survivors were rescued over a week ago. #MSF & @seawatch_intl provided an emergency response where #EU states are failing, abandoning people to drown. Now, we are stranded at sea," the MSF wrote on Twitter.
In early August, the MSF entered a partnership with Germany's Sea Watch non-governmental organization to resume search and rescue operations for irregular migrants in the Mediterranean Sea amid what many call the European Union's brutal push-back policies, amplified by COVID-19.
Apart from the MSF, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization of Migration (IOM) earlier this week called for the immediate disembarkation of more than 400 rescued migrants and refugees, who were on board three vessels in the central Mediterranean.
In particular, in addition to migrants aboard the Sea-Watch 4, 27 people, who left Libya, have been on board the Maersk Etienne commercial vessel for an unacceptably long period since their rescue on August 5, as a commercial tanker cannot be considered a suitable place to keep people in need of humanitarian assistance or international protection.
Another group of over 200 migrants were on board the Louise Michel boat � sponsored by famous artist Banksy � that asked the European Union for urgent assistance, as the vessel cannot move due to exceeding its safe carrying capacity. The Italian Coastguard subsequently took over 49 of the most vulnerable survivors from the vessel, while the Sea-Watch 4, with 200 migrants already aboard, recovered about 150 people.
