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Anger on social media over NGO 'taking migrant deliveries'

    The news that a ship run by German-based NGO Jugend Rettet is suspected of taking on migrants delivered to it by human traffickers in the Mediterranean has sparked shock and anger on social media.
    The NGO's Dutch-flagged Iuventa ship was confiscated on Wednesday at the Italian island of Lampedusa in relation to a probe in alleged aiding of illegal immigration.
    No members of the NGO have been charged so far and prosecutors in the Sicilian city of Trapani said that they believed Jugend Rettet's activists were working for humanitarian reasons and did not have direct relations with the traffickers.
    However, photos that seem to show an incident when migrants were not rescued at sea but were effectively handed over by traffickers sparked almost unanimous condemnation on social media, with many users blasting it as "shameful".
    Jugend Rettet put out a statement on Twitter Thursday saying that it was sorry it was unable to conduct search and rescue at the moment, adding that the "rescue of human life is and will be top priority".
    Jugend Rettet was one of several NGOs conducting rescues on the Mediterranean that this week refused to sign a new code of conduct at the interior ministry.
   

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