The Ocean Viking rescue ship has been
placed under administrative detention in the port of Bari after
disembarking 244 migrants on Saturday.
The boat chartered by Italo-Francio-German-Swiss migrant rescue
charity SOS Medterranee had picked up the migrants, including 18
unaccompanied minors, two disabled and two pregnant women, in
three separate rescue operations in the Central Mediterranean.
The migrants were said to have come from Eritrea, Sudan,
Bangladesh, Pakistan and Syria.
"The Italian authorities accuse the Ocean Viking of failing to
comply with instructions to proceed without delay and directly
to the assigned place of safety." SOS Mediterranee said in a
statement on its website. .
"We assume that our alleged failure to comply consisted of a
small change of course, which occurred after we received a
report of a case of distress with at least 70 shipwrecked people
just 15 nautical miles away," it continued.
Under rules introduced by the government of Premier Giorgia
Meloni exactly a year ago, rescue ships operated by NGOs are
expected to navigate directly to the assigned port of safety
after completing a rescue operation, without carrying out
multiple rescues.
On Saturday SOS Mediterranee said it had carried out the first
rescue under the instruction of a Libyan patrol vessel and the
second and third rescues under Italian coordination.
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