The ordeal of the 180 migrants who had spent days aboard the Ocean Viking, operated by the non-governmental organisation Sos Méditerranée, has come to an end, at least partially. Shortly before 5 o'clock on the morning of Monday 6 July, the vessel arrived near Porto Empedocle, after receiving instructions from the Italian authorities to head towards the Sicilian coast. Permission to dock — which took place in the evening, after 8pm — was granted primarily due to sea conditions forecast to worsen in the hours that followed.

Migrants disembarked from the Ocean Viking and transferred to a "quarantine ship"

All those aboard the Ocean Viking were tested to rule out the presence of Covid-19 cases. As reported by the Adnkronos agency, shortly before midnight the transfer began to the "quarantine ship" Moby Zaza, moored inside the port. The move was made on foot, rather than by coach, for safety reasons, under the coordination of the harbour master's office, the police headquarters and the prefect's office.

On the morning of today, 7 July, news arrived that all the tests had come back negative. The migrants — including 25 minors, 17 of them unaccompanied, rescued at sea in four separate operations between 25 and 30 June — will subsequently be distributed across a number of reception centres, but only after spending what will likely be two weeks aboard the Moby Zaza.