Humanitarian rescue ships run by nongovernment organizations rescued at least 150 people from the Mediterranean Sea over the weekend.

One group of 68 people who had become stranded in international waters off Libya were rescued on Sunday (September 10) by the Ocean Viking, run by the French humanitarian organization SOS Mediterranee, according to posts on X (formerly known as Twitter).

The survivors had been on a wooden boat that had departed from Libya. Many were suffering from seasickness and were given medical attention from SOS Mediterranee and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) on board the Ocean Viking, the NGO reported.

The Italian authorities ordered the Ocean Viking to disembark the survivors at Ancona, about 1,560 kilometers away.

SOS Mediterranee objected, saying: "The port is...four days’ sailing (away) from the area of operations, at a time when there is a crucial need for search and rescue capacity in the Mediterranean. There are many boats leaving shore and the risk of loss of life is high."

At the end of August, the Ocean Viking rescued 440 migrants in distress in international waters off Libya and Tunisia before heading for Genoa, northern Italy, the remote safe port assigned by the Italian authorities to disembark.

In recent years it has been common for people to attempt to cross the Mediterranean to Europe in greater numbers during the summer months, when warm weather conditions are accompanied by calmer seas.

"But we also see that other factors such as the shocking reports of violence against migrants and the deteriorating situation for migrants in Tunisia are causing more people to flee," Julia Schaefermeyer, communications manager for SOS Mediterranee told InfoMigrants.

Not enough search and rescue assets

The central Mediterranean is the most dangerous migratory route in the world, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) says. Since the beginning of this year, about 2,013 migrants have gone missing in its treacherous open waters. In comparison, there were an estimated 1,417 deaths recorded during the whole of 2022. 

The tragedies at sea are a consequence of migration policies.

"People don’t just perish because they are trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea, they perish because there aren’t enough search and rescue assets. NGO ships are being rerouted to far-off ports, and NGO ships are being detained," Schaefermeyer said.

The Italian authorities' practice of detaining ships like Ocean Viking is of particular concern, Schaefermeyer told InfoMigrants. Since it started operations four years ago, the vessel has been subjected to no fewer than seven Port State Control (PSC) inspections, including one in July which kept the ship impounded for ten days.

The PSC is the inspection of foreign ships in national ports to ascertain that they meet the requirements of international maritime safety standards outlined in conventions from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO). 

According to maritime safety regulations, periodic inspections are conducted roughly every 10-12 months. 

"While maritime regulations and inspections such as PSC are legitimate and important, it seems that the Ocean Viking has been under an extraordinary level of scrutiny," Schaefermeyer said. "We are confronted by the questionable interpretation of existing rules and standards, as have other search and rescue NGOs." 

The Ocean Viking was released without a PSC directive to rectify any on-board safety standards, Schaefermeyer stressed. 

"Safety at sea is important to all and paramount to our operations. However, these detentions remove vital assets from the Central Mediterranean when they are mostly urgently needed."

Read more: Migrant rescue ship Sea-Eye 4 impounded by Italian coast guard

Detaining rescue ships 

Since 2022, Italy's right-wing government has stepped up measures to deter the activities of migrant rescue charities. A controversial Italian law obliges ships to immediately travel to an assigned port after rescuing migrants. In addition, rescue ships are impounded and penalized with a fine.

In July, five organizations filed a complaint with the European Commission contesting the Italian law, saying it puts lives at risk.

However, while the application of the Italian decree is mainly targeted at penalizing NGO rescue ships for conducting rescue operations at sea, the detention of the Ocean Viking in July represents the uneven application of legitimate maritime safety regulations, subjecting NGO ships to a higher level of scrutiny. 

The detention of the Ocean Viking following the PSC inspection was not related to a rescue operation.

Schaefermeyer also insists that NGO ships comply with the same maritime laws and safety regulations as any other ship. "These detentions make it look like NGO ships are non-compliant with maritime safety regulations, which is not at all the case," she said.

Read more: Italian authorities arrest another German rescue ship