Italy assigns a port of reception to the Ocean Viking to disembark 294 migrants

The NGO SOS Méditerranée, whose humanitarian ship Ocean Viking has 294 survivors on board, has been authorized by the Italian authorities to dock in the Sicilian port of Pozzallo, it announced on Sunday evening May 29.

Read alsoMediterranean: a sailboat saves 75 migrants later recovered by the Ocean Viking

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, ”said this European association for search and rescue on the high seas, headquartered in Marseille, on its Twitter account.

49 minors, including a three-month-old baby

Since May 19, the ambulance ship chartered by SOS Méditerranée in partnership with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has carried out four rescue operations which have enabled it to rescue 296 migrants off the coast of Libya and Malta.

Among them are 49 minors, including a baby only three months old, and six pregnant women, SOS Méditerranée said in a statement.

An 8-month-pregnant woman and her husband had to be evacuated on Sunday.

In a video shot from the ship, a medical official indicated that among the survivors, some show signs of violence suffered during their stay in Libya, others were injured during the crossing or suffer from chronic pathologies, as much conditions requiring medical treatment ashore.

Libya is an important crossing point for tens of thousands of migrants seeking each year to reach Europe by the Italian coasts, some 300 km away.

Read alsoThe Ocean Viking rescues 158 migrants in the Mediterranean

The central Mediterranean is the most dangerous migration route in the world, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The UN agency estimates the number of dead and missing there at least 1,553 in 2021. Since February 2016, 35,630 women, men and children have been rescued by SOS Méditerranée with the ships Aquarius and then Ocean Viking.