The German operators of an NGO rescue ship have lashed out at European governments for closing their harbours and obstructing its rescue missions, as it finally found a port to dock.
"Not wanting to help is inhumane. However, making it impossible for others to help reaches a criminal level that I thought was impossible in Europe,” ship captain Klaus Merkle said.
The MV Professor Albrecht Penck, operated by the Sea-Eye organisation was allowed to shelter from a storm in Maltese waters after being blocked elsewhere, but it was refused permission for berthing and a crew change.
Seventeen migrants it had rescued off Libya had been allowed to disembark on a Maltese patrol boat along with other migrants rescued by another vessel, the Sea Watch III. The disembarkation only took place once seven EU countries along with Malta, agreed to take the migrants and other migrants brought to Malta earlier.
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The Professor Albrecht Penck has finally docked at Palma de Mallorca.
Sea Eye said its efforts to find a harbour and the long trip to Palma meant it could not be on station to rescue people, and it had incurred considerable costs.
"After a two-week chicanery by the Maltese government and the takeover of 17 rescued people on January 9, the crew may finally return to their families," Sea Eye said.
“While Malta blocked our ship, and Prime Minister Joseph Muscat kept us as political hostages to blackmail, we had to search for a new port for our ship for 10 days. More than 200 people once again drowned during their flight across the Mediterranean,” Gorden Isler, spokesman for Sea-Eye.
The organisation said it decided to look for an alternative port in the western Mediterranean after the Greek Port Authority of Patras also turned down its requests.
The intermittent news of hundreds of drowned people leaves me speechless. Europe not only looks away, it has completely turned away
Near Tunisia, the ship sought shelter from bad weather for three days and then headed for Spain.
“Our options were very limited due to our fuel stock and the weather," said Captain Klaus Merkle. “While we had to drive circles at sea, waiting for European politicians to take responsibility, we learned of several shipwrecks and many deaths."
The captain expressed his gratitude to the Spanish authorities but said he still suffers 'unspeakable pain' for the fact that the ship was prevented from doing its work for two weeks.
"The intermittent news of hundreds of drowned people leaves me speechless. Europe not only looks away, it has completely turned away. We will not allow that to happen," said Jan Ribbeck, head of mission.
Sea Eye said the narrative that relief organisations were luring people to the sea had become a political mantra in Italy. It ignored the fact that Europe itself was the so-called "pull factor" and one tries instead to exclude the political discussion about European 'push factors'." In a time of simple answers, this cruel way takes the lives of thousands of people."
The NGO said the Professor Albrecht Penck will be prepared for its next mission during the coming three weeks. The organisation intends to relocate the home port from Stralsund to Hamburg and give the ship a new name.
It said, however, that the blockade had inflicted serious financial damage.
“The mission costs were almost twice as high because of political obstacles. We want to continue, and we prepare for future difficulties. Over the next two weeks we will have to talk to our closest supporters and we will have to gain new ones. We cannot give up now,” the organisation said.