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Maersk Etienne crisis escalates as three migrants jump ship

The month-long refugee crisis on the Maersk Etienne has dangerously escalated over the weekend after Maersk Tankers revealed that three migrants had jumped overboard.

The vessel’s crew managed to recover the three people, who are now being given “due care” on the ship.

“We continue to plead for urgent humanitarian assistance for the 27 migrants stranded aboard Etienne,” Maersk Tankers said on social media.

The crew of Danish-flagged Maersk Etienne rescued the 27 migrants, stranded in Tunisian waters, on August 4 at the request of Matese officials. The rescued – who include a pregnant woman and at least one minor – have been forced to remain onboard the Danish-flagged tanker as authorities have yet come up with a solution for the refugees.

Robert Maersk Uggla, the CEO of A.P. Moller Holding, took to social media last week in a bid to end the stalemate.

“While many of us acknowledge the challenging political considerations, we are desperately awaiting Malta and Denmark to find a solution for the refugees, with EU or other relevant parties, so the ship and its crew are released.” Uggla wrote.

Malta for its part has responded saying the issue onboard is now one for Danish authorities to resolve.

Grant Rowles

Grant spent nine years at Informa Group based in London, Sydney, Hong Kong and Singapore. He gained strong management experience in publishing, conferences and awards schemes in the shipping and legal areas, working on a number of titles including Lloyd's List. In 2009 Grant joined Seatrade responsible for the commercial development of Seatrade’s Asia products. In 2012, with Sam Chambers, he co-founded Asia Shipping Media.

Comments

  1. So Maltese officials request the ship picks them up yet its left to the Danish Government to resolve their drop off and settlement?
    There’s a lesson in this, and it goes something like this “Yes, we can pick them up but please advise who’s authorizing the rescue, and before we do where and when will we offload them and who will take responsibility?”

  2. Those people should be sent back to their countries, europe had enough shares of refugees. They keep on coming and coming with mafias pushing them too, taking all their savings with fake promises.

    Arab countries in the gulf are full of money with a lot huge empty lands, they can have them, plus they speak the language.

  3. Call the liberals in the United States. They will attack anyone who does not believe in open borders. American liberal Democrats want all illegal aliens in the US. This ship is on the wrong continent.

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