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By AFP
ROME: Italian authorities have ordered the Ocean Viking migrant rescue ship to remain in a port near Rome after it failed an inspection, the charity that owns it said Thursday.
The ship underwent a seven-hour inspection Tuesday by the coast guard in the port of Civitavecchia, north of the Italian capital, after disembarking 57 migrants it had rescued in the Mediterranean.
It was then placed under administrative detention for “an indefinite period” after “a few small technical and administrative problems” were discovered, SOS Mediterranee said in a statement.
The coast guard did not respond to an AFP request for information.
SOS Mediterranee press officer Francesco Creazzo said the problem raised by the Italian coast guard related to the number of lifeboats and specialised operators on board.
The Ocean Viking has undergone seven inspections by the coast guard in the past three years, Creazzo said.
Italy’s hard-right government, which came to power in October 2022, has taken numerous measures to restrict the activities of ships operated by non-governmental organisations that rescue migrants in trouble on the crossing from North Africa.
In February, parliament approved a government decree that limited charity ships to one sea rescue at a time, requiring them to dock at a port assigned by authorities following each rescue.
The NGOs say this amounts to forcing the ships to ignore other emergencies on the water following rescue and sending them to distant ports instead of closer ones.
ROME: Italian authorities have ordered the Ocean Viking migrant rescue ship to remain in a port near Rome after it failed an inspection, the charity that owns it said Thursday.
The ship underwent a seven-hour inspection Tuesday by the coast guard in the port of Civitavecchia, north of the Italian capital, after disembarking 57 migrants it had rescued in the Mediterranean.
It was then placed under administrative detention for “an indefinite period” after “a few small technical and administrative problems” were discovered, SOS Mediterranee said in a statement.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
The coast guard did not respond to an AFP request for information.
SOS Mediterranee press officer Francesco Creazzo said the problem raised by the Italian coast guard related to the number of lifeboats and specialised operators on board.
The Ocean Viking has undergone seven inspections by the coast guard in the past three years, Creazzo said.
Italy’s hard-right government, which came to power in October 2022, has taken numerous measures to restrict the activities of ships operated by non-governmental organisations that rescue migrants in trouble on the crossing from North Africa.
In February, parliament approved a government decree that limited charity ships to one sea rescue at a time, requiring them to dock at a port assigned by authorities following each rescue.
The NGOs say this amounts to forcing the ships to ignore other emergencies on the water following rescue and sending them to distant ports instead of closer ones.
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