Italy's regulations on charities keep migrant rescue ships from the Mediterranean
The year has gotten off to a slow start for a charity-run rescue ship that typically plies the Mediterranean Sea looking for migrants and refugees in distress
BARI, Italy (AP) — The year has gotten off to a slow start for a rescue ship that typically plies the Mediterranean Sea looking for migrants and refugees in distress. The Ocean Viking has been impounded, its crew accused of having deviated from a designated course, as Italy targets charity groups that operate such vessels.
It was the second time in as many months that Italian authorities detained the 69-meter (225-foot) ship, operated by the European group SOS Mediterranee, while enforcing a year-old Italian government decree that regulates maritime rescue charities.
The hard-right-led government of Premier Giorgia Meloni approved the decree as part of efforts to stem the flow of migrants and would-be asylum-seekers trying to reach Europe. Italian maritime authorities now routinely assign privately operated rescue ships to ports in central and northern Italy, hundreds of miles and several days of navigation away from where they find boats in trouble.
Authorities also forbid the aid groups' vessels from carrying out multiple rescue operations without authorization.
