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Italy orders seizure of migrant rescue ship

Italian authorities have ordered the seizure of the migrant rescue ship Aquarius after claiming that discarded clothes worn by the migrants on their voyage from Libya to Italy could have been contaminated by HIV, meningitis and tuberculosis, The Guardian reported.

Italy orders seizure of migrant rescue ship

Italy orders seizure of migrant rescue ship

STEPANAKERT, NOVEMBER 21, ARTSAKHPRESS: Prosecutors from Catania, eastern Sicily, alleged that the waste was illegally labelled by the ship’s crew as “special waste” rather than “toxic waste”.

The Aquarius is currently docked in Marseilles, France, where so far it is beyond the reach of the Italian authorities.

The ship is operated by the charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and SOS Méditerranée. Prosecutors in Catania said: “If Aquarius would disembark to Italy, it will be immediately put under seizure.”
Nevertheless, the Italian authorities have placed 24 people under investigation for ‘‘trafficking and the illegal management of waste,” including the captain of the Aquarius, Evgenii Talanin, and Michele Trainiti, deputy head of the Italy mission of MSF Belgium. The Sicilian prosecutors also fined MSF a total of €460,000 (£409,000) and froze some of its bank accounts based in Italy.

A total of 24 tonnes of discarded material – including leftover food and medical materials as well as clothes – was being investigated.


     

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