The Ocean Viking migrant rescue ship operated by SOS Mediterranee left the port of Marseille on January 11 to travel to the central Mediterranean and resume rescue operations for the first time after six months. Over the next few days, the 22 members of the medical and rescue team will prepare for new operations at sea, the NGO said.
The administrative detention of the ship Ocean Viking was lifted following an inspection by the Italian coast guard. The ship, operated by SOS Mediterranee, had been blocked for five months in Porto Empedocle. It will now resume search and rescue operations off the coast of Libya.
Italy's Coast Guard cited "technical irregularities" and said the ship was carrying too many passengers. SOS Mediterranee, the aid group that runs the ship, called the move "a new level of official harassment."
After nine days on the ship, the 180 migrants aboard the Ocean Viking rescue vessel were allowed to step onto Italian soil after the ship declared an emergency over multiple suicide attempts by people on board.
After multiple suicide attempts over the past few days, migrants aboard the private rescue ship Ocean Viking will be moved to a quarantine vessel in Sicily.
Dozens of migrants continue to wait on board the Ocean Viking ship, after Italy and Malta both refused to grant safe harbor to the private rescue vessel. SOS Mediterranee , which runs the Ocean Viking, said it had sent five requests to both countries over the past week, asking for the boat to dock.
The NGO ship Ocean Viking rescued 118 migrants in the Mediterranean in two separate operations on Thursday. Meanwhile, rescue ship Alan Kurdi has been released by Italian authorities but is not yet ready to set off on a new mission.
The number of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean is rising. But with Europe closing its ports and halting humanitarian ships to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, activists fear the Mediterranean is becoming an overlooked tragedy.
Doctors Without Borders has ended a cooperation saving migrants stranded at sea after its partner suspended rescue missions due to the coronavirus. The NGO has accused the EU of using the outbreak to keep migrants away.
The humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has urged Italian authorities to let NGO-run vessels carry out rescue operations without quarantining them in connection with the coronavirus emergency. "Putting rescue vessels in quarantine is like stopping an ambulance in the middle of an emergency," the organization said.
After weathering storms and saving shipwrecked migrants in the Mediterranean, the Ocean Viking is quarantined in Italy. DW’s Miodrag Soric documents the mission, the people saved and life on board a rescue vessel.
274 migrants rescued by the humanitarian vessel Ocean Viking were given permission to disembark in Sicily on Sunday. Upon arrival, they were put in effective quarantine in response to the growing coronavirus outbreak in Italy.