A German shipowner has complained of a dire situation on board a boxship that cannot disembark migrants rescued in the Mediterranean.
Klingenberg Schiffahrts has called for help to resolve the impasse involving its 670-teu Marina (built 2003), which is currently off the Italian island of Lamepdusa with 79 desperate people, three of them women and all mainly from Bangladesh.
In an email passed to TradeWinds, vessel master Captain Postnikov told Maltese authorities on Wednesday morning: "At the moment we have huge fighting between rescued persons, almost all involved in fight."
He has ordered crew to enter and close the vessel's superstructure.
The migrants have knives, he added.
"I require urgent assistance," he added.
Postnikov added later on Wednesday: "All crew assembled in accommodation and accommodation is locked from inside."
Malta has asked authorities on Lampedusa to intervene in the security situation.
The vessel has been supplied with bottled water for drinking, but is out of fresh water completely.
The master and engineer are having to convert air conditioning water for use for washing and toilets, representing 1 litre of water per day per person.
It is also running out of food.
Critical situation on board
The vessel was ordered by Maltese rescue authorities to pick up the migrants from a drifting wooden boat on 3 May.
Speaking on the owner's behalf, lawyer Ann Fenech, managing partner at Maltese law firm Fenech & Fenech Advocates, said the situation was now critical.
The vessel has 13 crew members predominantly from Ukraine and the Philippines and was en route from Sfax in Tunisia to Malta Freeport with 265 containers, plus another 235 destined for Sousse in Tunisia.
After the rescue the master said he would proceed to Malta, but was ordered to stop the vessel and to await for further instructions because all ports were closed.
But Malta Freeport Terminal is not closed, Fenech said.
"Since then, the vessel has regularly been requesting Malta RCC for instructions on where to disembark the rescued migrants and permission to carry on with its scheduled voyage to Malta, and Malta RCC has repeatedly stated that the matter has now been referred to the prime minister and they are to await further instructions," she added.
Aggression and illness
On 4 May, the master reported that six migrants had been taken ill and that some others were starting to show aggression. He also said the migrants wanted to go to Lampedusa not Malta.
Malta at first said it would be sending a helicopter to help the sick people, but then when it was confirmed by the ship that there was no danger of death, it instructed the master to keep monitoring the situation.
"They are getting very restless and there is a very highly charged atmosphere on board which the 13 members of crew cannot control," Fenech said.
"Crew members are not trained to deal with an influx of frightened persons rescued at sea, in a very confined space with limited amenities. There is the added stress of the current Covid-19 pandemic with no means of testing the migrants and without sufficient or adequate PPE. The situation is dire."
The vessel is chartered by CMA CGM and entered with the West of England P&I Club.
'This must stop'
"It is unacceptable to international shipping and international trade at any time, but even more so in these particular circumstances associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, that there are seafarers and shipowners who after doing the right thing and rendering assistance to persons at sea in danger of losing their life [and] are effectively abandoned by the authorities," Fenech said.
The lawyer said states need to do their part.
"This must stop and it must stop now. Either Lampedusa is going to allow the disembarkation of the migrants, or Malta must allow the vessel to resume its voyage to Malta and disembark the migrants in Malta whilst it continues to discharge and load containers," she added.
