The migrant rescue ship Aquarius left Malta on Thursday after having disembarked 141 migrants on Wednesday afternoon.
SOS Mediterranee, which operates the ship together with Medicins sans Frontieres, in a tweet acknowledged the role Maltese authorities played in offering a safe port for the disembarkation.
UPDATE 2/2 Following a request of the shipowner, we must now sail to #Marseille, in order to clarify promptly the political and administrative situation with the #Gibraltar flag. The #Aquarius has every intention and obligation to return to the rescue zone as soon as possible. pic.twitter.com/dgzWKpWk1I
— SOS MEDITERRANEE (@SOSMedIntl) August 16, 2018
"More progress must be made to ensure that a sustainable search and rescue model is put in place to face the ongoing humanitarian crisis," the NGO said.
Some had feared that the ship may be impounded in Malta - a fate already suffered by three other rescue vessels - because of registration issues.
The NGO-fleet will be on chain:
— Georg Albiez (@AlbiezGeorg) August 15, 2018
Juventa, August 2017, Sicilia.
SeaWatch 3, June 2018, Malta.
SeaEye, June 2018, Malta.
Lifeline, June 2018, Malta. OpenArms, August 2018, Algeciras.
Aquarius, today?, Malta. Two planes grounded since June 2018. The EU blocks it own citizens! https://t.co/zk82drpGy0
The government of Gibraltar, where the Aquarius is registered, last week revealed that the ship had been put on notice of removal of its registration after it ignored orders to suspend operations as a rescue vessel and revert to its role as a survey ship, as registered.
The MV Lifeline has been held up in Malta since June 27, when it was allowed in to disembark 233 migrants. Its captain has been taken to court to face charges related to alleged registration irregularities.
The other two ships are the Seefuchs and the Sea Watch 3, which, like the Lifeline, are reportedly facing questions over registration.
A Malta-based search plane operated by the NGO Sea Watch has similarly been grounded.
The heavy-handed moves by Malta and Italy against NGOs come amid disagreement in the EU bloc over the way migrants saved in the Mediterranean are distributed.