Italian authorities have detained the Ocean Viking migrant rescue vessel for 20 days over its alleged failure to follow a prescribed route after rescuing dozens of people off the Libyan coast, the ship's operator SOS Mediterranee said Sunday.
"Ocean Viking is detained under the 'Piantedosi Decree-Law' for the second time in two months, punishing humanitarian rescuers for carrying out the lifesaving work that European States fail to do in the central Mediterranean," SOS Mediterranee, based in the French city of Marseille, said on social media platform X.
