Rescue ship ‘Ocean Viking’ awaits port access in new migrant standoff

Charities running rescue missions in the Mediterranean Sea have said Italy has ignored requests to allow their ship to bring 356 migrants ashore. The situation is exposing Europe’s latest failure to deal with African migration, Reuters said.

The Norwegian-flagged ship ‘Ocean Viking’ already stranded at sea for 13 days awaiting port access, has been denied entry by Malta and its two requests to Italian authorities have gone unanswered, they said.

The ship is carrying mostly Africans from Sudan, plucked from the sea in four separate missions. They include more than 100 minors, around 90 of them unaccompanied, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said. The plight of the ‘Ocean Viking’, run by MSF and another French charity, SOS Mediterranee, threatens to create another migration standoff with Italy if it chooses to head there.

Around 100 migrants were stranded off Italy for almost three weeks on the ‘Open Arms’ ship until a prosecutor ordered them brought ashore against Interior Minister Matteo Salvini’s wishes. Five of Italy’s EU partners will take them in.