THE ITALIAN authorities prevented another refugee rescue ship from saving lives in the Mediterranean this week, on the same day that at least 17 people drowned at the edges of Fortress Europe.

The Trotamar III, a sailing ship operated by activist rescuers Compass Collective, was detained by the Italian authorities on Thursday evening on the island of Lampedusa.

Two days earlier, the ship’s activists had rescued 18 people from an unseaworthy rubber dinghy in the Tunisian-Maltese search-and-rescue zone.

The reason the Trotamar III has been blocked from leaving port, Compass Collective said yesterday, was because the rescue had not been co-ordinated by the Tunisian authorities.

Trotamar III skipper Ina Friebe said: “If I had informed the Tunisian authorities, the 18 people in distress would have been at risk of being returned illegally to Tunisia.”

“Instead, I informed the maritime rescue co-ordination centres in Malta and Italy, which can guarantee a safe place, as required by international maritime law.”

Most of the activist-led refugee rescue ships refuse to cooperate with the Tunisian authorities, or take the rescued there, due to the country’s growing cases of human rights abuses of asylum-seekers.

The Trotamar III is the fourth NGO rescue ship the Italian authorities have detained since March 30.

Meanwhile, 12 men and five women died on Thursday when their boat capsized while attempting to reach Spain from Algeria.

At least 1,051 people have died while attempting to cross the Mediterranean so far this year, according to the International Organisation for Migration’s latest count.