The charity SOS Mediterranee is urgently seeking a port to disembark 460 people rescued from the Central Mediterranean in ten different operations last week. Close to 1,000 people are reported missing in the Central Mediterranean so far this year.
Italy is scrambling to address overcrowded migrant shelters after scores of boats carrying a total of about 1,000 migrants reached its southern shores and the islands of Lampedusa and Pantelleria over the weekend.
It's been nine days since the Open Arms NGO rescue vessel took aboard about 100 people off Sicily. However, the rescuees remain uncertain about what awaits them next, as no port has been assigned to accept them yet.
Italy's coast guard has brought more than 1,000 migrants from vessels in the Central Mediterranean Sea to Sicily and the mainland. The Ocean Viking rescue vessel saved 41 people from a boat in distress.
After waiting for around one week, 380 people rescued from the Mediterranean by the humanitarian organization SOS Mediterranee have been allowed to land in Italy. The rescue ship Ocean Viking was granted permission to make port at Salerno, south of Naples.
Three NGO rescue ships – the Geo Barents, the Ocean Viking and the Sea-Watch 3 – are currently waiting in the Central Mediterranean for a port to disembark the over 1,400 migrants they have rescued over the past week.
Disembarkation is underway in Sicily for the 306 migrants on board the Ocean Viking. Meanwhile, the Italian prime minister says the country has reached its limits on the number of migrants it can accept.
Migrant rescue ship 'Ocean Viking' has saved another 78 migrants from distress in the Mediterranean Sea in two rescue operations. Geo Barents, meanwhile, has disembarked 65 migrants in Taranto, southern Italy.
Three private migrant rescue ships carrying more than 500 people are waiting for a safe port in the Central Mediterranean. A fourth humanitarian vessel, the Nadir, has disembarked 19 migrants in Italy.
The humanitarian rescue ship Ocean Viking has received the green light to disembark in Sicily 294 persons rescued from distress at sea. Some of the survivors have been holding out on the ship for ten days and nights.
Two groups of migrants were rescued from the Central Mediterranean Sea by the Ocean Viking ship on Thursday. Hundreds of others due to disembark from the Geo Barents in Sicily were forced to remain on board without explanation.
After ten days at sea the Ocean Viking rescue ship has docked in Sicily. As the migrants on board were brought to safety, rescue workers expressed frustration at the EU's failure to coordinate the disembarkation.