The European Commission has received a request to coordinate the disembarkation of the migrants rescued by the Ocean Viking rescue ship and is currently working on accommodating all of them in the European Union, the spokesperson for the commission, Natasha Bertaud, said at a press briefing on Tuesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th October, 2019) The European Commission has received a request to coordinate the disembarkation of the migrants rescued by the Ocean Viking rescue ship and is currently working on accommodating all of them in the European Union, the spokesperson for the commission, Natasha Bertaud, said at a press briefing on Tuesday.Earlier in the day, Ocean Viking, a Norway-flagged migrant rescue ship operated jointly by Doctors Without Borders and the SOS Mediterranee, said that it had rescued 176 migrants over the weekend and was currently looking for a safe place for them to be disembarked and accommodated.
"I can confirm that last night we received a request to coordinate the disembarkation of people aboard the Ocean Viking, and that is what are now doing. The Commission has already had a constructive contacts with several member-states, and that will continue until we find places for everybody on board," Bertaud said.
She did not specify whom the request had come from.
The rescue ship reportedly received the green light from the Italian city of Taranto to dock on Tuesday, albeit to the dismay of some who are concerned about their country becoming a port of entry for illegal migration.
The Ocean Viking is one of the several rescue ships that operate in the Mediterranean Sea, which is one of the most popular but also most dangerous routes of irregular migration from the middle East and North Africa to the European continent. People who embark upon the dangerous journey on inflatable rafts often end up in the hands of smugglers and human traffickers or simply die en route.
Due to its geography and commitments under several EU agreements, Italy has traditionally been among the front-gate countries to be approached by boats carrying migrants. This summer, another NGO-run rescue ship, the Open Arms, was stranded for nearly three weeks in the Mediterranean with about a hundred migrants from Africa on board before it was allowed to dock at the Italian island of Lampedusa.
