Pregnant woman evacuated from Alan Kurdi after epileptic fit

A second woman was evacuated on Wednesday night from the humanitarian vessel the 'Alan Kurdi', after requiring medical attention.

The 'Alan Kurdi' has been stranded at sea with 80 people on board for nine days in yet another political standoff.

In a statement early Thursday morning, rescue charity Sea-Eye said that the woman, a 23-year-old Nigerian, one of the two pregnant women on board, had suffered an epileptic seizure.

Immediate action was taken on-board, and the Maltese rescue centre was contacted to request the evacuation to Malta. According to the NGO, Malta reacted immediately and sent a lifeboat for immediate pick-up. Her husband, unfortunately, had to stay on board worried.

The 'Alan Kurdi' has been stuck at sea for nine days with 80 people on board, 64 of which were rescued off Libya. Previously on Tuesday, a 24-year-old woman had been evacuated to Malta for medical attention by AFM after she lost consciousness.

The ship has been denied access to both Malta and Italy.

"We can only hope that the young woman will soon feel better again. Here on board, we could not help her any more," captain of the Alan Kurdi, Werner Czerwinski said.

Czerwinski said that he was worried about the mental state of those on-board. "The people come to me and ask me how long they have to stay on board and why it takes so long. They are terrified of the next phase of bad weather. Many of them were seasick. They see how two women collapsed and had to be evacuated. This is not a condition for people who have experienced such terrible things, and it is also not a condition for my crew," he said.

The NGO said that the ship urgently needs a quick, political but above all humanitarian solution for the 62 refugees and 17 crew members, whose families are also worried.

"We still do not have any robust results from the EU Commission. It is not only the crew and the rescued who are burdened. It has deprived many relatives and us of sleep for many days. We must now find an end to this. It cannot be that one person after another has to collapse here to finally be allowed to leave the ship," chairman of Sea-Eye e.V, Gorden Isler said.