Ocean Viking -
Fabio Peonia / AP / SIPA
The
Ocean Viking
, the rescue ship at sea of the NGO SOS Méditerranée, left the port of Marseille on Monday to return to the central Mediterranean where crossings of candidates for exile are increasing, the association announced on Twitter. .
"In the coming days, the 22 members of the rescue team and the [SOS Méditerranée] medical team will train in rescue operations at sea," the NGO warned on Monday.
An "extremely delicate" context
"We are leaving at sea very determined but knowing full well that the health and political context is extremely delicate," Sophie Beau, director of SOS Mediterranean in France, said on board the ship in mid-December.
The year 2020 was black for the association, whose ship, a real sea ambulance, was stranded for five months in Italy, in the midst of a resurgence of attempts to cross the central Mediterranean.
The candidates for exile from various countries mainly leave Tunisia and Libya to reach Europe via Italy, whose coasts are the closest.
The Italian authorities have imposed on the NGO work "expensive" according to her on the ship for compliance, including the addition of life rafts and additional immersion suits.
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Mediterranean
Marseilles
Sea
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Migrants