Italy on Thursday authorised the Ocean Viking migrant rescue ship to dock in Sicily after the group urged EU members to allow 572 people picked up in the Mediterranean Sea over three days to be brought ashore. “The Ocean Viking this evening received from the Italian maritime authorities a long-awaited news: the 572 survivors will disembark in Augusta, in Sicily,” the Marseille-based NGO said on Twitter. “Such large unseaworthy wooden boats launched from the coast of Libya had not been encountered by our teams in several years,” the Ocean Viking’s operator, SOS Mediterranee, said earlier in a statement. The operation was Ocean Viking’s sixth rescue within days and brought the total number of migrants onboard to 572. o far this year, more than 880 migrants have died trying to reach Europe from North Africa, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Source: The North Africa Journal July 09, 2021 13:05 UTC