The humanitarian organization SOS Mediterranee said that Ocean Viking, a rescue ship carrying 422 migrants, was heading to the port of Sicily on Sunday, after receiving permission from the Italian government.
The migrants were rescued by the ship in four operations over a period of two days, according to search and rescue coordinator Luisa Albera. Albera said a pregnant woman and another person accompanying her had been evacuated to Malta by helicopter the day before, The Associated Press reported.
According to the organization, eight of those on board tested positive for coronavirus and are in isolation.
“But although strict mitigation protocols COVID-19 apply aboard the Viking Ocean, this is a 69-meter-long ship,” Albera said, according to the AP. “This situation is an additional reason for the remaining 422 survivors, who are in a confined space on the back deck, to be disembarked immediately in a safe place,” she said.
Italian officials have begun transferring passengers from rescue ships to other ships to allow them to be quarantined upon arrival during the pandemic, according to the AP. The latest wave of migrants arriving in Italy is assessed mainly as economic migrants, rather than fleeing war or political persecution, making them ineligible for asylum.
Meanwhile, many other migrants entering Italy by land from the Balkans have been returned to both Italy and Slovenia, according to the AP. Pope Francis
Pope Francis In Biden, the media finally has a religious president to celebrate the Pope, marks Holocaust Remembrance Day with warning against extremism Pope will miss three upcoming events due to sciatica leg pain MORE on Sunday he called for humanitarian assistance, especially for unaccompanied minors, saying that although he had recently learned of the situation on the Balkan route, “there are so many … on all routes”.
“Let’s work so that these fragile and defenseless creatures do not take care of care and preferential humanitarian channels,” the pontiff continued, according to the AP.