Rome: The Alan Kurdi, a boat run by the German charity Sea-Eye, docked on Sunday at the Italian port of Taranto, allowing 88 migrants it rescued more than a week ago to disembark.
The vessel arrived shortly before 9 am (0800 GMT).
Before disembarkation, doctors came on board to visit the migrants and found no one in need of urgent medical attention, Sea-Eye spokesman Gorden Isler said.
One of the migrants knelt and kissed the ground as he got off the boat, the ANSA news agency said.
“The migrants luckily are all fine. There are five unaccompanied minors and one woman among them,” Taranto’s council member for welfare, Gabriella Ficocelli, told ANSA.
She said they were taken to a reception centre and would be relocated within 36 hours. “We saw big smiles on their faces, they couldn’t wait to get off,” Ficocelli added.
Isler said the Alan Kurdi would have a technical stopover in Tarantof or a few days, and resume operations with a new crew in a week’s time.
The German vessel picked up the migrants on October 26 off Libyan shores. Sea-Eye accused militias acting as the Libyan coastguard of disturbing the rescue by firing warning shots into the air and water.
Sea-Eye had to wait until late on Friday to get authorisation from the Italian Interior Ministry to reach an Italian port, and it only came after other EU countries agreed to take some of the migrants.
The ministry said more than two thirds of them would be relocated: France and Germany are to take 60, Portugal five and Ireland another two.
Earlier on Friday, the Alan Kurdi entered Italian waters without authorisation, saying it needed to go closer to the shore to protect itself from bad weather. — dpa
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