Ocean Viking

History
Completed1986
In service1986
IdentificationCallsign: JXIW
General characteristics
Class & typeUT735
Tonnage2,075 GRT
Length69.3 metres (227 ft)
Beam15.5 metres (51 ft)
Draught5.11 metres (16.8 ft)
Propulsion2 x Bergen diesel engines with 22,371 kW (30,000 hp)
Speed15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)

The Ocean Viking is a former Platform supply vessel used as a humanitarian ship chartered from July 2019 by the SOS Méditerranée association.

The vessel

The Ocean Viking was built as a Platform supply vessel and put into service in 1986 in Norway.[1]

On 21 July 2019 SOS Méditerranée announced a new rescue campaign off the Libyan coast, using the supply vessel Ocean Viking.[2] The approach is supported by the Norwegian authorities, who have given the vessel a flag.[3] The operation costs €14,000 per day.[4] The vessel, which is 69 m long by 15 m beam, was built in 1986 to serve as a support vessel for oil rigs in the North Sea. It is operated by around thirty people (nine crew members, a search and rescue team and medical personnel)[3] and can carry up to 200 passengers.[5] It is faster and better equipped than the Aquarius.[6] Onboard microphones and cameras will make it possible to record everything that happens on board and around the boat, in order to possibly prove that the work was carried out within a legal framework[7][8] The ship, which will respect[9] the ban on disembarking migrants in Italian ports[10][11] is even banned from refueling in Malta.[12]

In 2024 French SOS Méditerranée president François Thomas estimated the cost for a day at sea for the Ocean Viking to be around €24,000.[13]

Selected list of interventions

During its first outing, four rescue missions on 9, 10 and 11 August 2019,[4][14][15][16] brought the number of refugees on board to 356,[16] to which were added a further 160 from on board the ship Open Arms.[17]

By 29 January 2020, when 407 migrants (recovered after five night rescue operations in less than 72 hours off Libya) disembarked in Taranto,[18] the number of people saved thanks to the operations of this ship had mounted to more than 1,600.[18]

The ship was impounded for five months from July 2020,[19] during which time additional equipment had been added, and released on 21 December 2020. Ocean Viking resumed operations in January 2021,[20] embarking journalists from Mediapart.[21][22] The crew rescued 119 migrants off the Libyan coast on 21 January 2021;[23] two more rescues the next day brought the number of migrants on board to 374.[24][25] They disembarked on 25 January at Augusta in Sicily.[26]

At the end of March 2021, the Ocean Viking was stranded to the south of Malta, pending permission to disembark 116 migrants rescued the previous week.[27] The crew of the ship then tried to rescue further migrants during the sinking of 22 April 2021 in the Mediterranean, but without success.[28]

On 28 March 2022, SOS Méditerranée announced via Twitter that it had received permission to bring almost 160 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean to Italy. The Ocean Viking headed to the port of Augusta in Sicily.[29] On 11 November 2022, the Ocean Viking arrived in the southern French port of Toulon with 234 people.[30]

On 25 March 2023, Ocean Viking was notified by Alarm Phone of a distress call in international waters. On the way to the emergency situation, the Libyan Coast Guard harassed the Ocean Viking and warning shots were fired in the air. The Ocean Viking had to turn away to protect itself while people fell into the water from the boat in distress. Video footage from a Sea Watch aircraft that observed and documented the maritime emergency was posted on Twitter.[31]

On 2 May 2023, the Ocean Viking docked in Civitavecchia near Rome with 168 migrants.[32]

On 7 July 2023, the Ocean Viking and its fast support vehicles initially picked up 40 people from a GRP boat off the Libyan coast. After a Libyan Coast Guard speedboat showed up, the only Arabic-speaking activist negotiated the rescue of people from another boat, which had since been spotted by an NGO plane a few nautical miles away. Apparently the Libyans also agreed to the rescue of these migrants - but then began to hinder the activists a little later with disruptive maneuvers and warning shots.[33] Two days later, 57 migrants were landed in Civitavecchia and the Italian authorities initially detained the ship.[34] Just a few days after landing, 10 Sudanese, Eritreans and Ethiopians, said to be between 14 and 17 years old, fled the accommodation assigned to them by the Italian authorities and went into hiding.[35]

On 13 March 2024, the vessel rescued 25 survivors from an inflatable dinghy, from which some 60 others had died.[36]

On 24 August 2025 the Ocean Viking approached the Libyan coastline to conduct a search operation. The crew claimed to have been about 40 nautical miles off the coast, when the ship was engaged by a Libyan coast guard vessel, whose crew demanded the activists should leave the area. After several warnings, the Libyan crew opened fire, circling the Ocean Viking, and continued shooting with small arms for some 20 minutes, damaging super structure and equipment. Nobody was injured. The activists finally retreated and Italian authorities assigned them Marina di Massa to disembark the 87 migrants they had picked up earlier, but the captain decided that they couldn't make it safely and headed for Syracuse on Sicily instead.[37][38]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Data sheet by former operator Hoyland Offshore from 2011". www.yumpu.com. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
  2. ^ "Migrants : l'ONG SOS-Méditerranée annonce une nouvelle campagne au large de la Libye" [Migrants: SOS-Méditerranée NGO announces new campaign off the coast of Libya]. Le Figaro (in French). 21 July 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  3. ^ a b Pascual, Julia (21 July 2019). "SOS Méditerranée et MSF annoncent une nouvelle campagne de secours des migrants en mer" [SOS Méditerranée and MSF announce a new campaign to rescue migrants at sea]. Le Monde.fr (in French). Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Franceinfo - Actualités en temps réel et info en direct: Les migrants secourus par le navire "Ocean Viking" ont dérivé 48 heures et sont "dans un état d'extrême fatigue"" [Franceinfo - Real-time news and live information: Migrants rescued by the ship "Ocean Viking" have been adrift for 48 hours and are "extremely tired"]. Franceinfo (in French). Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  5. ^ "MSF reprend ses opérations de secours en mer face à la détérioration de la situation en Libye et à l'inaction européenne | Médecins sans frontières" [MSF resumes sea rescue operations amid deteriorating situation in Libya and European inaction | Doctors Without Borders]. www.msf.fr (in French). 2019-07-21. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  6. ^ Lefèvre, Thibault (2 August 2019). "À bord de l'Ocean Viking, le nouveau navire de sauvetage de SOS Méditerranée et MSF" [On board the Ocean Viking, the new rescue ship from SOS Méditerranée and MSF]. France Inter (in French). Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  7. ^ "A Marseille, le navire humanitaire "Ocean-Viking" se prépare à partir en Méditerranée" [In Marseille, the humanitarian ship "Ocean-Viking" prepares to leave for the Mediterranean]. Le Monde.fr (in French). 2 August 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  8. ^ "Migrants: l'Ocean Viking joue la transparence pour déminer les polémiques" [Migrants: Ocean Viking plays the transparency card to defuse controversy]. L'Express (in French). 17 August 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  9. ^ "SOS Méditerranée : "S'il nous est interdit d'entrer dans les eaux italiennes, nous n'irons pas" | Les Inrocks (8/8/2019 and 17/3/2021)" [SOS Méditerranée: "If we are forbidden to enter Italian waters, we will not go" | Les Inrocks (8/8/2019 and 17/3/2021)]. www.lesinrocks.com (in French). Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  10. ^ "L'Italie adopte un décret antimigrants, avec des amendes records pour ceux qui leur viennent en aide" [Italy adopts anti-migrant decree, with record fines for those who help them]. Le Monde.fr (in French). 6 August 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  11. ^ "Migrants: la justice italienne désavoue Salvini et ouvre ses bras à l'Open Arms" [Migrants: Italian justice disavows Salvini and opens its arms to Open Arms]. Le Figaro (in French). 14 August 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  12. ^ "L'Ocean-Viking, qui vient en aide aux migrants en Méditerranée, interdit de ravitaillement à Malte" [The Ocean-Viking, which helps migrants in the Mediterranean, is banned from refueling in Malta]. Le Monde.fr (in French). 8 August 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  13. ^ "Zwölf Tage mit Seenotrettern auf dem Meer: Für das Leben, gegen alle Widerstän" [Twelve days with sea rescuers at sea: For life, against all odds]. Tagesspiegel (in French). 12 August 2024. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  14. ^ "85 migrants secourus par l'"Ocean Viking" au large de la Libye" [85 migrants rescued by the "Ocean Viking" off the coast of Libya]. Le Monde.fr (in French). 9 August 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  15. ^ "Méditerranée : plus de 80 migrants secourus ce samedi par l'Ocean Viking" [Mediterranean: More than 80 migrants rescued this Saturday by the Ocean Viking]. L'Express (in French). 10 August 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  16. ^ a b "Méditerranée: 356 migrants à bord de l'Ocean Viking après un nouveau sauvetage" [Mediterranean: 356 migrants aboard the Ocean Viking after a new rescue]. Le Figaro (in French). 12 August 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  17. ^ "Méditerranée : 400 migrants bloqués à bord de navires humanitaires, sans port d'accueil" [Mediterranean: 400 migrants stranded on board humanitarian ships, with no port of call]. Le Monde.fr (in French). 12 August 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  18. ^ a b "Des rêves de liberté après le cauchemar libyen pour les migrants de l'"Ocean Viking"" [Dreams of freedom after the Libyan nightmare for the migrants of the "Ocean Viking"]. Franceinfo (in French). 29 January 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  19. ^ "L'Italie immobilise le navire humanitaire "Ocean-Viking" pour raisons "techniques"" [Italy detains humanitarian ship "Ocean-Viking" for "technical" reasons]. Le Monde.fr (in French). 23 July 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  20. ^ "Reprise des opérations de l'Ocean Viking : "Il y a urgence à repartir, il n'y a plus aucun navire humanitaire sur place" (SOS Méditerranée)" [Ocean Viking Resumption of Operations: "It is urgent to leave, there are no longer any humanitarian vessels on site" (SOS Méditerranée)]. Franceinfo (in French). 21 December 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  21. ^ "Sauvetages en Méditerranée: l'"Ocean Viking" reprend la mer" [Rescues in the Mediterranean: the "Ocean Viking" returns to sea]. www.mediapart.fr. 10 January 2021. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  22. ^ ""Ocean Viking": en Libye, les violences sexuelles détruisent les femmes migrantes" ["Ocean Viking": In Libya, sexual violence destroys migrant women]. www.mediapart.fr. 28 January 2021. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  23. ^ "Une première opération de sauvetage de 119 migrants réussie pour l'"Ocean Viking"" [First successful rescue operation of 119 migrants for the "Ocean Viking"]. 22 January 2021. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  24. ^ "L'"Ocean-Viking" effectue un troisième sauvetage en 48 heures et secourt 106 personnes" [The "Ocean-Viking" carries out a third rescue in 48 hours and rescues 106 people]. www.lemonde.fr. 23 January 2021. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  25. ^ "374 migrants secourus en 48 heures: et l'"Ocean Viking" prit vie" [374 migrants rescued in 48 hours: and the "Ocean Viking" came to life]. www.mediapart.fr. 23 January 2021. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  26. ^ "L'"Ocean Viking" a débarqué en Sicile" [The "Ocean Viking" has landed in Sicily]. www.mediapart.fr. 24 January 2021. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  27. ^ "Le navire humanitaire allemand "Sea-Watch 3" immobilisé en Italie" [German humanitarian ship "Sea-Watch 3" immobilized in Italy]. www.lemonde.fr. 2021-03-22. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  28. ^ "Anatomy of a shipwreck that killed 130 people in the Mediterranean". gettotext.com. 24 April 2021. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  29. ^ Simmons, Lennard (28 March 2022). "Seenotrettung: "Ocean Viking" darf in Italien anlanden" [Sea rescue: "Ocean Viking" allowed to land in Italy]. Die Zeit (in German). Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  30. ^ "Neun EU-Länder werden Geflüchtete von Ocean Viking aufnehmen" [Nine EU countries will take in refugees from Ocean Viking]. DER STANDARD (in Austrian German). Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  31. ^ red, ORF at/Agenturen (26 March 2023). "Libysche Küstenwache soll Rettungsaktion verhindert haben" [Libyan coast guard allegedly prevented rescue operation]. Diversität - Aktuell (in German). Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  32. ^ Centrale, Redazione (10 July 2023). "Civitavecchia - Migranti, nuova infornata della Ocean Viking con 57 persone a bordo - EtruriaNews" [Civitavecchia - Migrants, Ocean Viking Receives New Batch with 57 People on Board - EtruriaNews] (in Italian). Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  33. ^ ""Exclusive: the guardia costiera libica save against the soccer players during a salvataggio in the sea"". euractiv.it. 10 July 2023. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  34. ^ "Italien setzt NGO-Rettungsschiff Ocean Viking fest" [Italy detains NGO rescue ship Ocean Viking]. DER STANDARD (in Austrian German). Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  35. ^ Vallerga, Alessio (15 July 2023). "I minori della Ocean Viking scappano da Civitavecchia • Terzo Binario News" [Ocean Viking minors escape from Civitavecchia • Terzo Binario News]. Terzo Binario News (in Italian). Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  36. ^ "60 migrants die in dinghy in Mediterranean, survivors say". BBC news. 14 March 2024. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  37. ^ "Mittelmeer: "Ocean Viking" meldet Beschuss durch libysche Küstenwache" [Mediterranean: "Ocean Viking" reports being fired upon by Libyan coast guard]. evangelisch.de (in German). 25 August 2025. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  38. ^ Candito, Alessia (25 August 2025). "Venti minuti di spari contro Ocean Viking. L'ong: "L'Italia sospenda tutti gli accordi con la Libia"" [Twenty minutes of gunfire against the Ocean Viking. The NGO urges Italy to suspend all agreements with Libya.]. repubblica.it (in Italian). Retrieved 25 August 2025.

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