Rescue ship with 572 migrants pleads for Mediterranean port

A charity rescue ship with 572 migrants aboard in the central Mediterranean is pleading for permission to dock at some European port, saying food is running short and tensions rising on the crowded vessel

ROME -- A charity running a rescue ship with 572 migrants aboard in the central Mediterranean pleaded Thursday for permission to dock at some European port, saying food was running short and tensions rising on the crowded vessel. Luisa Albera, search and rescue coordinator of SOS Mediterranee, launched an urgent appeal from the Ocean Viking, that's between Malta and the southern Italian islet of Lampedusa, south of Sicily. She said five requests to maritime authorities to assign a port of safety have gone unmet. Among those aboard the Ocean Viking are 369 migrants rescued on July 4 from a boat that the group said was in danger of capsizing in the Mediterranean. “Making survivors wait on the deck of our ship, exposed to the sun and elements, is inhumane,” Albera said.