At first glance, it’s an amusing but not unusual Italian beach scene.
The video shows a group of cheerful tourists dancing in the shallow waters of the Mediterranean during an aquatic Zumba class, waving their arms to peppy music.
Look closely, however, and the image takes on a larger meaning. On the horizon in the background is a cargo ship. And this particular cargo ship happens to be stranded at sea with 113 migrants aboard after picking them up off the coast of Libya last Friday morning.
Roberto Brumat, a journalist for Italian daily Corriere della Sera, shot the video Sunday morning while on holiday in Pozzallo, Sicily.
He posted it to his blog, noting the juxtaposition – frolicking tourists, desperate migrants – while explaining he didn’t intend it as a criticism of the Zumba dancers on the beach, who were likely unaware of the plight of the ship behind them.
The container ship, operated by Danish transportation company Maersk, remains in limbo in the Mediterranean after being refused permission to dock in Italy.
“I was strolling on the beach of Santa Maria del Focallo, near Pozzallo, and I knew that the Danish ship was (and still is) on the backdrop,” Brumat told CNN.”I took the video to show the juxtaposition between two worlds. I thought it was a highly symbolic scene.”
The Maersk sits roughly three nautical miles from the port of Pozzallo, Italian Coast Guard spokesman Commander Cosimo Nicastro told CNN. He added that of the 113 migrants aboard, five have since been brought to shore for medical reasons, including an eight-month pregnant woman and her partner, and a young girl who needed medical assistance with her mother and sister.
The ship also has 600 containers on board, many of them empty, Maersk spokesperson Mikkel Elbek Linnet told CNN.
The rescue took place on Thursday evening after the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC) called on the cargo ship to intervene, Maersk said in a statement.
Under international maritime laws, the cargo ship was obliged to assist. But it has been left in limbo after it was denied a port of entry and the company is now “awaiting further instruction from authorities,” the statement added.
The ship is one of two that currently sits in limbo in the Mediterranean after rescuing migrants off the Libyan coast. The other, Lifeline, is carrying 234 migrants.
Italy’s hardline interior minister, Matteo Salvini, is taking a tough stance against rescue ships carrying migrants to Italian ports. Two weeks ago the Aquarius, which at one point was crowded with 630 migrants, docked in Spain after Salvini refused to allow it to dock in Sicily.
CNN’s Nadine Schmidt and Sheena McKenzie contributed to this report.
