Carola Rackete, the captain of
the Sea-Watch 3 migrant-rescue ship, has been put under
investigation by prosecutors in the Sicilian city of Agrigento,
sources said on Friday.
The ship is currently anchored in front of the port of
Lampedusa after Rackete defied an order to stay out of Italian
waters on Wednesday.
The migrants were picked up by it off Libya over two weeks
ago.
Rackete, 31-year-old German, is being probed for allegedly
aiding illegal immigration for refusing to obey a military
vessel, the sources said.
Premier Giuseppe Conte said Friday that several EU States
have agreed to take some of the around 40 migrants on board the
Sea-Watch 3 to end the deadlock regarding the search-and-rescue
ship.
"Three or four countries are willing to take part in the
redistribution of the Sea-Watch migrants," Conte told reporters
at the G20 summit in Osaka.
Foreign ministry sources said that, actually, more than four
EU countries were willing to take some of the Sea-Watch
migrants, including France, Germany, Luxembourg and Portugal.
Conte had a long meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte
about the Sea-Watch case on the sidelines of the G20.
The ship is run but a German NGO but it is flies the Dutch
flag and Rome says the Netherlands should have intervened in
this case.
This week the Italian embassy in The Hague took a formal step
about a possible dereliction of duty by the Dutch authorities.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
