The MV Aquarius 2 is a 1977 built Panamamian flagged research vessel. It has been chartered and operated since February 2016 by the NGOs SOS Méditerranée and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF or Doctors without borders) as a rescue vessel for migrants and refugees making the Mediterranean crossing in makeshift craft from Libya to Italy as part of the European migrant crisis.
The vessel is a converted German coast-guard and fishery protection vessel (then named Meerkatze, built in 1977). The ship has a registered capacity to accommodate 25 crew members and usually carries 4 journalists and can carry upto 300 rescued migrants. All of the refugees sleep on the deck and in the mess room, as the vessel does not have beds, cabins or accommodation for refugees.
Video Aquarius 2
History
Completed by Lürssen in Bremen in 1977, serial ID 13453, the ship was utilised by the German Federal Agency for Agriculture and Nutrition (BLE) unit of the Küstenwache, or the German Federal Coast Guard, as a "Fischereischutzboot" or fishery protection vessel.
The ship was classified by Germanischer Lloyd as a Class E2 Icebreaker, employed principally in the central North Sea and North Atlantic, where thanks to its design it proved excellent at navigating through adverse sea conditions.
In 2009 it was decommissioned and replaced by the "Meerkatze II", previously the research ship Anton Dohrn. It was acquired by Bremen company RS Research Shipping (now Jasmund Shipping), renamed MV Aquarius and re-registered under Gibraltar port of registry. Here it operated until the end of 2015 as a survey vessel for renewable energy, oil & gas industry, and other offshore projects.
In February 2016 the ship was chartered by humanitarian NGO SOS Méditerranée, to provide open sea rescue and support to migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea to reach the European Union. Operating on missions coordinated by Rome's maritime rescue coordination centre, patrolling the waters around Sicily, Lampedusa, and near the Lybian coast, it provided aid to over 10,000 migrants.
On May 25, 2016 the Aquarius returned from its tenth rescue operation, having saved 388 migrants. A Ghanaian boy was born on board who was subsequently named Alex in honor of the Russian captain of the Aquarius, Alexander Moroz.
In June 2018 the ship carrying 629 migrants from Sudan and Bangladesh saved from the sea was denied entry to Italy by Italy's new interior minister Matteo Salvini and to Malta as well.
The Spanish government offered the Aquarius the chance to dock in the port of Valencia, Spain and the Italian navy offered full assistance and a marine escort for the trip. From the Government it is not ruled out to send Immigration detention to part of these immigrants.
Aquarius and its migrants arrived at the Spanish port of Valencia on 17 June. Half of them opted to claim asylum in France, insofar as France opened the doors to anyone from the Aquarius.
In August 2018, Spain refused entry to the vessel carrying 141 migrants from Eritrea and Somalia as Spain is not the closest safe port, as stipulated by international law.
On 20 September 2018 the Aquarius picked up 10 Pakistanis and a Person from Ivory Coast from a dinghy 28 nautical miles from the Libyan coast and 120 miles from the closest European shore, the Italian island Lampedusa. The Aquarius crew refused an order from a Libyan coast guard ship to transfer them. The same day the Aquarius asked Italy and Malta permission to disembark the eleven migrants and both countries refused.
Maps Aquarius 2
Flag
The vessel was flagged under the flag of convenience Gibraltar since February 2018. On 6 August 2018 the Gibraltar Maritime Administration issued a "notice of removal" for the Aquarius, because she was registered as a survey vessel, but used as a rescue ship. As a result, the ship was warned that she would be removed from Gibraltar registry.
On 27 August 2018 the ship arrived in Marseille and its operator MSF annouced, that the owner has applied for a registration of the vessel in another flag of convenience Panama on 20 August. However, on 22 September 2018 the maritime authority of Panama announced that it had initiated the procedures to remove the Aquarius (now renamed Aquarius 2) from its registry, quoting violations of international law in respect to migrants, rescue at sea and refusing to carry the migrants back to the area where they originated. The government of Panama had been informed by Italy and other sources[missing reference], that the Aquarius did not follow international legal proceedings concerning the transport of migrants, so it was decided to initiate the process to remove Aquarius 2 from Panama's ship registry. Specifically, Aquarius has been accused of not returning the rescued migrants to Lybia. However, Lybia is not internationally recognized as a safe haven were refugees can be returned. By returning refugees to Lybia, Aquarius would have acted illegally, by not abiding to the Hamburg and Geneva conventions. As of that date the Aquarius was seeking a port to disembark the migrants, after having refused an earlier order from to transfer them from the Libyan coast guard.
As of September 2018, the vessel continues to be registered with Gibraltar flag as a research / survey vessel and classed with Germanischer Lloyd.
Current location
After its controversy in Europe regarding illegal immigrants, the vessel changed its voyages. As per official marine ship tracking websites, the vessel visited eight ports in Taiwan, China and Malaysia in August and September 2018. As per Marine traffic, a popular ship tracking website, MV Aquarius was sailing off Malta towards the end of September 2018.
References
External link
- Aquarius Current position
Source of article : Wikipedia
0 Comments