Three people rescued by an NGO ship earlier this week are being brought to Malta after crew members warned that they were desperate to the point of being suicidal.
The three people, two of them children as young as 15, are among a group of 13 rescued by crew of the Alan Kurdi. Malta evacuated two rescued passengers on Thursday after the ship’s crew warned that they were having anxiety attacks.
On Friday evening, an Armed Forces of Malta spokeswoman confirmed that they were in the process of evacuating three more people from aboard the ship.
One of the three, a 17-year-old unaccompanied minor believed to be from Tunisia, tried to jump off the Alan Kurdi on Thursday evening but was stopped at the last minute by crew members.
'Too young to understand'
“He was grabbed by the pants and pulled back on board when he broke, crying,” a medical assessment seen by Times of Malta reads.
The teenager had grown increasingly restless with each passing day, pacing up and down the deck and veering between complete exhaustion and bouts of intense crying.
“He is too young to fully understand and cope with the situation and the horrendous effects of his actions,” the medical assessment stated.
A second teenager, aged just 15, is physically exhausted and exhibiting signs of “self-isolating behaviour” and “signs of depression”.
The oldest of the three rescued passengers is 23 and has not eaten in seven days.
‘We are afraid’
The Alan Kurdi now remains stuck at sea outside Malta with eight people aboard, and a press officer for NGO Sea-Eye, which operates the ship, told Times of Malta that the situation was growing more and more desperate with each passing day.
“We are afraid now for those remaining [on the ship], the spokesperson said.
The Sea-Eye has now taken its standoff with authorities into Maltese courts, filing a judicial protest on Friday in which it called on the Maltese government to assume responsibility for the rescued migrants and bring them to shore.
The Office of the Prime Minister has not replied to questions concerning the dispute.