The Italian Coast Guard announced last Wednesday that it had detained the Ocean Viking Migrant Rescue ship and forced it to anchor in the port of Porto Empido on the Strait of Sicily, due to “several violations”, according to official sources.
The Italian Coast Guard explained that they have discovered “many irregularities of technical and operational nature that could not only endanger the safety of the crew, but also those who have been rescued or would be rescued in the future”.
In its response to the incident, the European NGO, “SOS Mediterranée”, which is in charge of operating the ship, condemned what it called as “the administrative harassment actions aimed at obstructing the work of charity rescue ships that are saving the lives of migrants rescued from the sea”.
The NGO also said that the main accusation made against the ship is that it “was carrying more people than the approved number”.
Italian authorities said on the other hand that the ship will remain in detention until all violations are tackled, adding that some of the violations would require the intervention of Norway, which the ship is carrying its flag.
It is noteworthy that the aforementioned NGO has repeatedly announced the detention of migrant rescue ships by the Italian authorities, and that these detention incidents also involved ships from Germany.
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