World

Report: Italians seize NGO migrant rescue ship in Sicily

18 of March 2018

In this July 13, 2017 photo, migrants stand on the deck of the Spanish NGO's Proactiva Open Arms vessel at harbor at Porto Empedocle in the southern Italian island of Sicily. The Italian news agency ANSA says the NGO’s migrant rescue ship has been put under sequester by prosecutors’ orders, Sunday, March 18, 2018, in Pozzallo port, Sicily, where, a day earlier, the vessel brought 216 migrants it had rescued last week in the Mediterranean north of Libya. (Montana/ANSA via AP),In this July 13, 2017 photo, migrants stand on the deck of the Spanish NGO's Proactiva Open Arms vessel at harbor at Porto Empedocle in the southern Italian island of Sicily. The Italian news agency ANSA says the NGO’s migrant rescue ship has been put under sequester by prosecutors’ orders, Sunday, March 18, 2018, in Pozzallo port, Sicily, where, a day earlier, the vessel brought 216 migrants it had rescued last week in the Mediterranean north of Libya. (Montana/ANSA via AP)

The Italian news agency ANSA says a Spanish non-governmental organization's migrant rescue ship has been sequestered in Sicily by prosecutors' orders. The seizure took place Sunday in Pozzallo port, a day after the Proactiva Open Arms vessel brought to Sicily 216 migrants it had rescued last week in the waters north of Libya. ANSA says Catania prosecutor is investigating three persons for suspected criminal association for illegal immigration. NGO officials couldn't be reached for comment.

ROME (AP) — The Italian news agency ANSA says a Spanish non-governmental organization’s migrant rescue ship has been sequestered in Sicily by prosecutors’ orders.

The seizure took place Sunday in Pozzallo port, where a day earlier the Proactiva Open Arms’ vessel brought 216 migrants it had rescued last week in the Mediterranean north of Libya.

ANSA says Catania Prosecutor Carmelo Zuccaro is investigating three people for suspected criminal association for illegal immigration, including the commander of the boat.

Officials of the NGO couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. ANSA quoted lawyer Rosa Emanuela Lo Faro, representing the commander, as saying “I guess they’ve instituted the crime of solidarity.”

The NGO has said a Libyan coast guard vessel threatened to shoot its rescue dinghies if they didn’t offload the migrants rescued in international waters.