This archive report was first published on 5 July 2020.
Published on July 5, 2020, Italy has agreed to allow 180 migrants to disembark from the Ocean Viking, a rescue ship that has been in limbo in the Mediterranean south of Sicily.
The migrants, who include 25 children and two women, one of whom is pregnant, were picked up after fleeing Libya in four separate rescues by the Ocean Viking on June 25 and 30.
According to a spokesman for the charity operating the Ocean Viking, the ship is now heading for the port of Porto Empedocle, where it expects to arrive by Monday.
Italy said on Saturday that medics were testing the migrants before they would be transferred to a quarantine vessel in Sicily.
After the coronavirus tests, the migrants are expected to be transferred to the Moby Zaza quarantine ship in Porto Empedocle.
The Ocean Viking has been waiting for permission from Italy or Malta to offload the migrants at a safe port, with tensions rising in the past week as the migrants became increasingly desperate to reach land.
