ROME (ITALY) – Some 70 migrants jumped overboard from the Spanish rescue ship Open Arms on Thursday, hoping to swim and get to the nearby southern Italian city of Palermo.
The people who jumped into the sea, were among the group consisting more than 270 people, and were again rescued by Italian coastguard and police ships.
The charity vessel carried out three rescue operations in the central Mediterranean during the time between September 8 and 10. Instructions are yet to be received as to where the migrants will be allowed to disembark.
The Italian coastguard have taken two pregnant women to safety and one of their husbands onto land as to help them receive medical assistance in recent days.
Being the primary route to Europe for asylum seekers and other migrants, Italy has experienced a dip in arrivals after a clampdown on smuggling networks.
However, numbers have gone up again in 2020 despite the fact that Rome restricted rescue ships from docking in its ports because of the COVID-19 pandemic. At times, those saved at sea are sent to ferries and asked to be under quarantined, off the Italian coast.