Rome immobilizes the humanitarian ship of SOS Méditerranée for “technical and administrative problems”

ocean viking stay at dock. By decision of the Italian authorities, the boat of the humanitarian NGO SOS Méditerranée was immobilized in the port of Civitavecchia, north of Rome (Italy), when it had just disembarked 57 migrants rescued at sea. italian coastguard a “an indefinite period”, because the inspection to which the ship was subjected revealed “a few small technical and administrative problems”, according to a press release from SOS Méditerranée.

According to the NGO, one of these problems “unfortunately requires further investigation, which involves various certification and shipowner stakeholders” of the ship. For SOS Méditerranée, the Italian authorities have “a restrictive interpretation of the Solas Convention, an international agreement which establishes minimum safety criteria for the construction, equipment and operation of ships”.

The supervision of lifeboats pointed out

An official of the Italian branch of the association, interviewed by telephone by AFP, specified that the problem raised by the Italian coast guard concerned the number of lifeboats present on the ship.

A previous inspection of theocean viking, carried out in 2020, had imposed the presence of 14 lifeboats, a number calculated according to the number of people rescued and not the size of the crew. The NGO claims that the latest inspection carried out by the Italian authorities concluded on the need for the presence on board of a specialized operator per lifeboat, i.e. 14 people. Asked by AFP about the reasons for this immobilization, the Italian coastguards did not respond immediately.