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Malta evacuates three more from Alan Kurdi rescue ship

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Valletta: Malta evacuated three more people early on Monday morning from the migrant rescue ship Alan Kurdi in the Mediterranean.


The three people were brought to Malta at around 4:30 am (02:30 GMT), an Armed Forces of Malta spokeswoman said.


It was the third time in a week that Malta has evacuated people from the ship, which has been stuck about 35 kilometres south of


Malta with no permission to enter port.


Just five of the 13 people rescued by the Alan Kurdi now remain on board.


Monday’s operation came hours after the German charity Sea-Eye, which operates the vessel, made a public plea for help to Maltese authorities and said a 17-year-old Tunisian had tried to jump overboard twice.


A spokesman described it as a “suicide attempt.”


Italy and Malta have clamped down on rescues of migrants in the Mediterranean in the past few months, repeatedly refusing charity vessels entry to ports in an effort to force the ships to bring migrants back to North African shores instead.


In the case of the Alan Kurdi, Malta has suggested that migrants should instead be returned to Tunisia.


The vessel has requested EU assistance to find member states prepared to take in the remaining migrants on board, European Commission spokeswoman Natasha Bertraud confirmed on Monday, saying that somehad “shown willingness.”


Since the previous populist government assumed the helm in Italy and sealed the country’s ports, the European Union has acted as an interlocutor sounding out member states willing to take in


migrants arriving by boat on an ad hoc basis.


Italy, along with Spain and Malta, wants to see EU member states not located on the Mediterranean take responsibility for a greater share of people arriving on Europe’s southern coasts. So far, attempts at a more fundamental overhaul of Europe’s strained migration system have failed. — dpa


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