(Marseilles) Theocean vikingthe migrant rescue ship of the NGO SOS Méditerranée, detained for 10 days by the Italian authorities who accused it of security failures, was authorized to return to sea, the NGO, whose headquarters is in France, announced on Friday.
“Ten days after the detention of theocean viking in the port of Civitavecchia [près de Rome]the Italian authorities acknowledged that the vessel […] does in fact comply with all applicable regulations, as confirmed by the Norwegian flag state authorities [du navire] and the ship’s classification society. The immobilization has therefore been lifted without substantial modification of the certification, the crew or the lifesaving devices”, indicated in a press release the NGO, whose headquarters is in Marseille (South-East of France).
It is in particular the point of the life rafts which had led to the extension of the immobilization of the ambulance ship by the Italian authorities.
“We are very relieved to be able to resume our rescue missions, interrupted in the middle of summer, a season when there is a maximum of crossings” of migrants, the director and co-founder of SOS Méditerranée, Sophie Beau, told AFP by telephone.
“But that’s as much time as we haven’t been able to spend at sea, even though there is a serious lack of rescue boats in this area of the central Mediterranean”, she regretted, considering that “the detention” of theocean viking “Asks questions about the intentions” of the Italian authorities.
Mme Beau pointed out that since the chartering of theocean viking by the NGO in the summer of 2019, the ship was subject to seven checks, an “unusually high” number.
The date for resuming operations has not yet been set but will be done as soon as possible, once the crew has returned to Civitavecchia and the refueling has been carried out: “It’s a matter of days”, the ship should leave “at the end of July, beginning of August”, estimated the manager.
The central Mediterranean is the most dangerous migration route in the world, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The UN agency estimates that since the beginning of 2023, 1,931 migrants have disappeared there.
Since coming to power in 2022, the far-right government of Giorgia Meloni, which includes the leader of the Anti-Migrant League Matteo Salvini as Deputy Prime Minister, has stepped up measures to hamper the activities of migrant relief NGOs.