THE coronavirus outbreak in Italy should not act as a pretext to stop a refugee rescue ship from operating, the Ocean Viking’s crew said today after it was ordered to remain at anchor off the Italian coast and was the only vessel to be placed in quarantine.

The Ocean Viking, which is operated jointly by European charities Doctors Without Borders and SOS Mediterranee, completed the rescue of 276 survivors yesterday when it disembarked them in the Italian port of Pozzallo in Sicily.

The survivors were rescued in three missions on February 18 and 19 in the central Mediterranean as they escaped the conflict in Libya. The ship was kept at sea for five days without word from any European government offering them a port of safety.