Latest news with #SeaWatch
The Independent
3 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
EU rights court says Italy not responsible for Libyan coast guard actions over migrant boat sinking
Judges at the European Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday that Italy could not be held liable for the actions of the Libyan Coast Guard, rejecting a case brought by a group of migrants rescued from the Mediterranean Sea in a fatal boat sinking in 2017. The Strasbourg court declared the case inadmissible, finding Italy did not have 'effective control' of the expanse of waters off the coast of Tripoli where a small ship carrying some 150 people sank in 2017. Twenty people died in the incident. Around 45 survivors onboard the ship said they were taken to Tajura Detention Center in Tripoli where they were beaten and abused. The judges found that the captain and crew of the Libyan vessel Ras Jadir had acted independently when they answered a distress signal in the early morning hours on Nov. 6. Italy has supplied the Libyans with funding, vessels and training as part of an agreement to slow the tide of migrants crossing the Mediterranean. The judges found, however, that this support did not prove 'Italy had taken over Libya's public-authority powers.' A group of migrants was rescued by the humanitarian organization Sea Watch and were taken to Italy. A ruling in favor of the 14 survivors who filed the complaint at the ECHR could have undermined international agreements made by several European Union countries with Libya, Turkey and others to prevent migrants from coming to European shores. The ECHR handles complaints against the 46 member states of the Council of Europe. The intergovernmental organization is not an EU institution and was set up after the Second World War to promote peace and democracy. Libya is not a member of the Council of Europe, so the court has no jurisdiction over the country's actions. ___ Follow AP's coverage of migration issues at
Miami Herald
19-03-2025
- Science
- Miami Herald
Rare false killer whales surface alongside boaters in the Mediterranean, video shows
Boaters in the eastern Mediterranean Sea recently happened upon a rare pod of false killer whales, video footage shows. A group of friends were sailing near Tel Aviv, Israel, in the early morning hours of March 18 when the encounter occurred. About 40 minutes into their trip, they noticed multiple fins jutting out from the surface of the water, according to a news release from Delphis, an Israeli environmental research non-profit. As the boaters got closer, they realized the fins belonged to a group of six to 10 dolphins — which they believed to be a common species. The marine mammals then swam alongside their vessel for around an hour. A video posted by Delphis shows the sleek, dark-colored creatures calmly cruising just below the surface and occasionally breaching to breathe. Soon after the encounter, the boaters reported the sighting using the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel's SeaWatch app. From there, it was forwarded to Delphis, which confirmed the creatures were false killer whales. A type of oceanic dolphin, false killer whales are named for their skull shape, which resembles that of an orca, according to the International Whaling Commission. Measuring up to 20 feet long, the dolphins are social animals that feed on a variety of fish and squid. They are found throughout much of the world's oceans, though little is known about the size of their populations, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Aviad Sheinin, the director of Delphis' Dolphin and Sea Center, said in the release that false killer whales are one of the rarest marine mammals known in the region — though he added that sightings are becoming more common. Before 2020, the animals avoided the coastal areas of Israel, instead preferring the deeper waters of the Mediterranean, Sheinin said. But, since the COVID-19 pandemic, sightings have been reported each year, with the last one occurring in June. Google Translate was used to translate a news release from Delphis.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Migrants rescued after several days stranded on oil platform
Thirty-two migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean have been rescued by an NGO ship after spending several days stranded on an oil platform off the coast of Tunisia. "Women, men and children" were shipwrecked with no food or water, according to Mediterranea, a migrant rescue charity. One person on the platform had died, the charity said. NGO Sea Watch said it had managed to rescue all 32 people from the gas platform on Tuesday afternoon, and that they were being looked after aboard the Aurora ship. However, the Aurora's final destination was unclear as no country nearby had yet assigned the ship a port of safety, Sea Watch said. It added that no European country had intervened "despite the imminent emergency" and the fact that the people were stranded in international waters on the border of the Tunisian and Maltese search and rescue (SAR) zones. NGO monitoring aircraft Seabird reportedly spotted an empty rubber dinghy near the platform on 1 March. The shipwrecked people then managed to contact Alarm Phone - an emergency hotline for migrants in trouble at sea. In the call, they said they had been without food for days and that their condition was critical. They also reported the death of one person, Sea Watch said. In a video apparently filmed by one of the people on the platform and shared by NGOs on social media, a young man in a white t-shirt could be heard saying that he and the others were "suffering from hunger and dying of cold". Speaking in Tigrinya - a language spoken in Ethiopia and Eritrea - the man said they left Libya five days ago and that the dinghy they were travelling on capsized. "Those who made it here and didn't die at sea are dying of hunger and exhaustion, if in the few hours nobody does anything we will obviously die... We have only little chance [to survive]," he said. Behind him were several people apparently shivering from the cold as the waves crashed against the oil platform's pillars. Over 210,000 people tried to cross the Central Mediterranean in 2023, according to data shared by the UN. More than 60,000 were intercepted and sent back to African shores, and nearly 2000 lost their lives at sea. On a boat picking up migrants in the middle of the Med Italian state of emergency to tackle migrant boats
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Migrants rescued after several days stranded on oil platform
Thirty-two migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean have been rescued by an NGO ship after spending several days stranded on an oil platform off the coast of Tunisia. "Women, men and children" were shipwrecked with no food or water, according to Mediterranea, a migrant rescue charity. One person on the platform had died, the charity said. NGO Sea Watch said it had managed to rescue all 32 people from the gas platform on Tuesday afternoon, and that they were being looked after aboard the Aurora ship. However, the Aurora's final destination was unclear as no country nearby had yet assigned the ship a port of safety, Sea Watch said. It added that no European country had intervened "despite the imminent emergency" and the fact that the people were stranded in international waters on the border of the Tunisian and Maltese search and rescue (SAR) zones. NGO monitoring aircraft Seabird reportedly spotted an empty rubber dinghy near the platform on 1 March. The shipwrecked people then managed to contact Alarm Phone - an emergency hotline for migrants in trouble at sea. In the call, they said they had been without food for days and that their condition was critical. They also reported the death of one person, Sea Watch said. In a video apparently filmed by one of the people on the platform and shared by NGOs on social media, a young man in a white t-shirt could be heard saying that he and the others were "suffering from hunger and dying of cold". Speaking in Tigrinya - a language spoken in Ethiopia and Eritrea - the man said they left Libya five days ago and that the dinghy they were travelling on capsized. "Those who made it here and didn't die at sea are dying of hunger and exhaustion, if in the few hours nobody does anything we will obviously die... We have only little chance [to survive]," he said. Behind him were several people apparently shivering from the cold as the waves crashed against the oil platform's pillars. Over 210,000 people tried to cross the Central Mediterranean in 2023, according to data shared by the UN. More than 60,000 were intercepted and sent back to African shores, and nearly 2000 lost their lives at sea. On a boat picking up migrants in the middle of the Med Italian state of emergency to tackle migrant boats
BBC News
04-03-2025
- General
- BBC News
Migrants rescued after several days stranded on oil platform
Thirty-two migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean have been rescued by an NGO ship after spending several days stranded on an oil platform off the coast of Tunisia."Women, men and children" were shipwrecked with no food or water, according to Mediterranea, a migrant rescue charity. One person on the platform had died, the charity Sea Watch said it had managed to rescue all 32 people from the gas platform on Tuesday afternoon, and that they were being looked after aboard the Aurora ship. However, the Aurora's final destination was unclear as no country nearby had yet assigned the ship a port of safety, Sea Watch said. It added that no European country had intervened "despite the imminent emergency" and the fact that the people were stranded in international waters on the border of the Tunisian and Maltese search and rescue (SAR) zones. NGO monitoring aircraft Seabird reportedly spotted an empty rubber dinghy near the platform on 1 March. The shipwrecked people then managed to contact Alarm Phone - an emergency hotline for migrants in trouble at sea. In the call, they said they had been without food for days and that their condition was critical. They also reported the death of one person, Sea Watch a video apparently filmed by one of the people on the platform and shared by NGOs on social media, a young man in a white t-shirt could be heard saying that he and the others were "suffering from hunger and dying of cold".Speaking in Tigrinya - a language spoken in Ethiopia and Eritrea - the man said they left Libya five days ago and that the dinghy they were travelling on capsized. "Those who made it here and didn't die at sea are dying of hunger and exhaustion, if in the few hours nobody does anything we will obviously die... We have only little chance [to survive]," he said. Behind him were several people apparently shivering from the cold as the waves crashed against the oil platform's pillars. Over 210,000 people tried to cross the Central Mediterranean in 2023, according to data shared by the UN. More than 60,000 were intercepted and sent back to African shores, and nearly 2000 lost their lives at sea.
