AUGUSTA - After sending five requests to port authorities for a place of safety for the disembarkation of 116 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean, SOS Mediterranee’s Ocean Viking has on Tuesday been given a safe port in Augusta, Sicily by Italian authorities. They will arrive off the coast of Augusta on midday on Tuesday.

  On March 18, Ocean Viking picked up 10 people in distress on a fibreglass boat 36 miles from the coast of Libya, after a request from the Libyan coast guard. On board were two women, a baby and three children, all of whom were constantly vomiting, thought by the ship’s doctor to be caused by extreme dehydration and exhaustion.

  On March 20, Ocean Viking picked up another 106 people in an overcrowded rubber dinghy 34 miles off the Libyan coast. Several survivors were “in a state of strong emotional distress” according to SOS Mediterranee.

  Of the survivors rescued, five tested positive for Covid-19 and had to be isolated on the ship.

  On Tuesday, after five requests for a safe port in as many days, with the weather in the Mediterranean getting worse and worse, they were assigned the port of Augusta.

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