TWO NGO refugee rescue ships have questioned why Italy has ordered them to remain in quarantine when no other vessels have been instructed to do so since the coronavirus outbreak hit the country.

After rescuing 194 refugees from a near certain death in the central Mediterranean and delivering them to dry land on Thursday, the Italian Ministry of Health ordered the Sea Watch 3’s crew to remain at anchor off Messina, Sicily.

On Monday, the Ocean Viking was ordered to do the same after it completed the rescue of over 270 people who had fled across the sea to escape Libya. The ship remains at sea off the Sicilian town of Pozzallo.