81 migrants rescued by Ocean Viking

A rescue team of the Ocean Viking ship, operated by the NGOs Sos Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders, helps a person rescued from a rubber dinghy with over 80 migrants off the Libyan coast. The Ocean Viking was already carrying over 80 people rescued earlier, and is blocked at sea while it waits to be assigned a safe port. Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who has triggered a government crisis in Italy, signed Friday a ban on the ship's entry into Italian waters. (Hannah Wallace Bowman/MSF/Sos Mediterranee via AP)

The Norwegian ship Ocean Viking on Sunday picked up 81 people from a inflatable raft in the Mediterranean. Thus, the ship has saved 251 people in the last three days.

Says Doctors Without Borders on Twitter, Sunday afternoon.

The 81 people were picked up in international waters off the coast of Libya, Sunday is the third day in a row the ship picks up migrants in the Mediterranean. Both Friday and Saturday, 85 people were rescued from inflatables, so the number is now up to 251.

MSF operates Ocean Viking with SOS Mediterranee.

Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini demands that Norway take responsibility for the people they pick up in the Ocean Viking in the Mediterranean. He also points out that, after the introduction of the new law, it is now illegal for privately operated rescue vessels to call at Italian ports.

Norway’s Justice and Immigration Minister Jøran Kallmyr (FRP) said Friday, after it became known that 85 people were rescued, it is completely out of date for Norway to welcome people rescued in the Mediterranean.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today

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