NGO ship seeks migrants’ disembarkation

ROME: A rescue ship which has been at sea for 10 days with 104 migrants should urgently be allowed to disembark them, the two charities running the vessel said on Monday.

The Ocean Viking, operated by SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders (MSF), intercepted the migrants on October 18 some 90 kilometres off the Libyan coast.

“104 survivors are once again left in limbo on the deck of a rescue ship with no solution for their disembarkation in sight,” SOS Mediterranee’s Louise

Guillaumat said in a statement.

“We urge European leaders to live up to their principles and allow the survivors to finally disembark to safety,” MSF head of mission, Michael Fark, added.

According to the two charities, aboard the Ocean Viking there are two pregnant women and 41 minors, including two babies aged 2 and 11 months. SOS Mediterranee and MSF previously asked to be allowed to dock in Malta or Italy.

According to the Marine Traffic website, the Ocean Viking is currently half way between Lampedusa island and Sicily. Italian Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese, a civil servant who last month replaced migration hardliner Matteo Salvini, has so far stayed silent on the Ocean Viking case.

Since last year, Italy and Malta have repeatedly refused to open their ports to migrant rescue vessels unless other EU countries agreed to take in some of the migrants.

Negotiating these burden-sharing arrangements is often difficult, and leaves migrants stranded at sea until a deal is struck. Usually this happens with the help of the European Commission.

“At this stage we’re not actively involved... but as always we stand ready to provide support should we be requested to do so,” European Commission spokeswoman Natasha Bertaud said in Brussels on Monday.

In September, Malta, Italy, France and Germany suggested fixed rules for migrant relocations, to speed up procedures, but the proposal has failed to win wider EU endorsement.