A Hoyland Offshore-owned offshore supply vessel is struggling to find a European Union safe port after rescuing 572 migrants in the Mediterranean this month.
Berlin-based SOS Mediterranee chartered the 2,090-gt Ocean Viking (built 1986) from Hoyland last year, and the vessel has been used to save refugees since.
The non-government organisation said that ship recently picked up 572 people — including 183 minors — from six boats between Malta and Libya in a timespan of just over 72 hours.
“What we have witnessed at sea these past days is harrowing,” SOS Mediterranee search and rescue coordinator Luisa Albera said.
“Not only did we happen to rescue hundreds of people…without any coordination by maritime authorities, but we also witnessed remains of other boats which were intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard, even as far as in the Maltese Search and Rescue region.”
She said those who are intercepted are being forcibly returned to Libya, which would not be considered a place of safety.
“We are calling upon the EU to now at least coordinate for the disembarkation of 572 survivors, currently aboard our ship, in a place of safety.”
Spokeswoman Petra Krischok told TradeWinds that Italy or Malta is supposed to assign a safe port for the ship, but neither of the countries have done so.
“We are still waiting. The ship is packed. We cannot do anything unless they assign us a port,” Krischok said. “It’s very difficult to be like this for long.”
Refugees from Libya often seek to cross the Mediterranean on small boats in summer, with favourable weather conditions increasing their survival rates.
Last summer, a product tanker operated by Maersk Tankers was stranded in Malta for 38 days after saving 27 migrants off Tunisia.
Malta refused to allow the refugees aboard the 36,900-dwt Maersk Etienne (built 2004) to disembark, saying the rescue had not happened in its territorial waters.
International Organization for Migration figures show 723 people have died crossing the central Mediterranean so far this year. SOS Mediterranee said it received several reports of deadly shipwrecks in recent days alone.
