aboard the “Ocean Viking”, the crew is still looking for a port to dock

Under tin roofs, men and women sleep next to each other or chat with doctors and nurses. This is what we see on the images shot on theocean viking by the SOS Méditerranée teams. Above all, there is immense fatigue, underlines Morgane Lescot, in charge of communication on board: “For us, the situation is already extreme. The survivors are exhausted, in a very significant psychological state of anxiety. We believe that at this stage, it has to stop.”

PRESS RELEASE: faced with the silence of the #Italywe urge the French maritime authorities to assign a port to disembark the 234 survivors of the #OceanViking.

“The situation on board has reached a critical threshold”, warns Sophie Beau, director of @SOSMedFrance pic.twitter.com/8SLoaVItM1

— SOS MEDITERRANEE France (@SOSMedFrance) November 8, 2022

For lack of a port of disembarkation in Italy, theocean viking crosses Wednesday, November 9 in international waters between Sicily and Sardinia. For nearly twenty days, 234 migrants, including 40 minors, have been on board the ship chartered by SOS Méditerranée. The fear of rescuers is that migrants throw themselves into the water because they cannot disembark. A situation encountered by the Doctor Without Borders ship on Monday in an Italian port. “These are gestures of desperation that we also fear on board our shipexplains Morgane Lescot. We are extremely angry at the situation and above all, we are ashamed of having to present ourselves on a daily basis to these people without being able to give them the answer they are all waiting for.

“The answer they expect is to be able to reach a safe place. We hope anyway.”

Morgane Lescot, in charge of communication for the “Ocean Viking”

at franceinfo

On Wednesday night, theocean viking will be off Sardinia, then Thursday morning off Corsica. But the boat will still be in international waters for lack of official authorization from the French authorities.