Ocean Viking, Humanity One arrive in Italy with 135 migrants

Rome: Migrant rescue vessels Ocean Viking and Humanity One disembarked 135 passengers in the Tuscan port cities of Livorno and Marina di Carrara over the weekend.

Ocean Viking docked in Livorno on Friday (February 2) with 71 migrants, while Humanity One docked in Marina di Carrara on Sunday (February 4), disembarking 64 people.

Passengers rescued by the Ocean Viking vessel included nine unaccompanied minors and five women, of whom one was pregnant and accompanied by her husband. All the other passengers were men.

The 71 migrants, who mainly hailed from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan, will remain in Tuscany. Six of them, including a minor, will stay in hosting centres in Livorno and in the province while the others will be divided between different provinces of the region, said Livorno’s prefect, Paolo D’Attilio.

The 61 migrants who reached the port of Marina di Carrara on the Humanity One included 11 minors.

It was the tenth landing registered by the Tuscan port and the first of 2024, bringing the total number of migrants to have reached the port city on an NGO vessel to 1,165.

Several volunteers waited on the pier for the boat’s arrival, along with health and security officials as well as port authority personnel.

The migrants initially underwent health checkups on board before being accompanied by bus to a nearby exhibition space for identification procedures and further medical tests.

The migrants included a few Palestinians, local sources said.

According to data provided by the prefect of Massa Carrara, the 64 migrants included one woman and 11 minors, including five children who were accompanied by an adult and six who were traveling alone.

Only six unaccompanied minors will remain in Tuscany — three in Massa and three in Grosseto — authorities said. All other migrants, including the woman, will go to hosting centers in the Veneto region.

Many of the passengers hailed from Africa, especially Burkina Faso and South Sudan. No critical situations or health issues were reported among migrants on board after initial checks.