Italian govern allows 'Ocean Viking' to disembark in Lampedusa

The Italian authorities have authorized the 'Ocean Viking', the rescue ship of SOS Mediterranée and Doctors Without Borders (MSF), to disembark in Lampedusa the 82 migrants on board.

"The Italian authorities have just offered the 'Ocean Viking' a safe harbor," - MSF said in its Twitter account.

"Six days after the first rescue, MSF and SOS Mediterranée con confirm that the 82 people rescued on board will disembark soon in Lampedusa," added the NGO.

The permission given to the 'Ocean Viking' seems to be a prelude to the different attitude the new government wants to take on migrants. After the inhumane behaviour of former Minister of Interior Matteo Salvini, the new government seems intentioned to change course. 

On Monday night 34 people (28 men, 6 women, one of them pregnant, and a baby less than one year old) were transferred from the sailboat 'Josefa' to the 'Ocean Viking'.

The sailboat, only 14 meters long and managed by the German NGO Resqship, had rescued these people a few hours earlier and requested medical assistance from the 'Ocean Viking' team.

These 34 people joined the 50 rescued by the 'Ocean Viking' on Sunday in a blue air raft about 14 nautical miles (26 kilometers) off the coast of Libya, west of Tripoli.

A nine-month pregnant woman and her husband, who were among those rescued from that boat, were evacuated by helicopter on Wednesday to Malta, where the woman ended up giving birth.