Ocean Viking with 182 Migrants Waits to Dock in Europe

Migrants are silhouetted during the sunrise on the deck of the Ocean Viking as it sails in the Mediterranean Sea, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2019. AP photo
Migrants are silhouetted during the sunrise on the deck of the Ocean Viking as it sails in the Mediterranean Sea, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2019. AP photo
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Ocean Viking with 182 Migrants Waits to Dock in Europe

Migrants are silhouetted during the sunrise on the deck of the Ocean Viking as it sails in the Mediterranean Sea, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2019. AP photo
Migrants are silhouetted during the sunrise on the deck of the Ocean Viking as it sails in the Mediterranean Sea, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2019. AP photo

A nonprofit-run ship carrying 182 migrants rescued on the Mediterranean Sea sailed back and forth between Italy and Malta while awaiting permission to dock at a European port, with its passengers growing increasingly worried about where they would wind up, the Associated Press reported.

Over three days last week, the Norwegian-flagged Ocean Viking, a search-and-rescue vessel jointly operated by two aid groups, picked up 217 people from four unseaworthy boats in the central Mediterranean. The migrants had departed from Libya.

The island nation of Malta, a European Union member, on Friday allowed in 35 migrants who were rescued at the country's request in waters under its responsibility. The 182 remaining on the rescue ship are sleeping on decks and floors, including a newborn baby and 13 other children under age 15.

"Is the EU aware of the situation we are facing?" Kemo Kebbeh, a 25-year-old man from Gambia, asked representatives of SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders who were aboard the Ocean Viking.

He was referring to conditions on the ship but also to the danger and human rights violations migrants face before seting off for Europe in human traffickers' boats.

Malta has forwarded Ocean Viking's request for a safe place to disembark passengers to Norway, France and Italy.

Erkinalp Kelisi of Doctors Without Borders said he had a hard time explaining to the migrants on board the Ocean Viking why they couldn't be transferred to Malta like the 35 others. Malta and Italy so far have refused to accept any passengers, deferring responsibility to other EU nations.

"They are all people. They are all equal, and the system of disembarkation that is imposed has to be the same," Kelisi said.

According to the International Organization for Migration, 6,570 migrants have arrived in Italy by sea so far this year and 2,260 in Malta. Both nations, typically the nearest arrival point for ships crossing the central Mediterranean, want other EU members to share the load.

The 28-nation bloc hasn't reached an agreement on an automatic system for determining where rescued migrants are allowed to land and potentially seek asylum.

The Maltese government plans to host a meeting Monday with French, German and Italian authorities in an attempt to formalize a temporary deal to manage the standoffs that can keep migrants stuck at sea for week, AP said.

Politicians in favor of blocking the ships accuse NGOs of colluding with smugglers. But data shows that most sea arrivals through the central Mediterranean do not happen through charity rescues.

Italy allowed the Ocean Viking last week to disembark at tiny Lampedusa island 82 migrants who were rescued during an earlier mission. But in a scenario that has played out several times before, the Italian government gave the authorization only after Germany, France, Portugal and Luxembourg agreed to take a share of the group.



Death Toll from Catastrophic Flooding in Texas over the July Fourth Weekend Surpasses 100

 A portion of Highway 1340 is covered by the Guadalupe River in the aftermath of deadly flooding in Kerr County, Texas, US, July 7, 2025. (Reuters)
A portion of Highway 1340 is covered by the Guadalupe River in the aftermath of deadly flooding in Kerr County, Texas, US, July 7, 2025. (Reuters)
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Death Toll from Catastrophic Flooding in Texas over the July Fourth Weekend Surpasses 100

 A portion of Highway 1340 is covered by the Guadalupe River in the aftermath of deadly flooding in Kerr County, Texas, US, July 7, 2025. (Reuters)
A portion of Highway 1340 is covered by the Guadalupe River in the aftermath of deadly flooding in Kerr County, Texas, US, July 7, 2025. (Reuters)

The death toll from catastrophic flooding in Texas over the July Fourth weekend surpassed 100 on Monday as search-and-rescue teams continued to wade into swollen rivers and use heavy equipment to untangle trees as part of the massive search for missing people.

Authorities overseeing the search for flood victims said they will wait to address questions about weather warnings and why some summer camps did not evacuate ahead of the flooding that killed at least 104.

The officials spoke only hours after the operators of Camp Mystic, a century-old all-girls Christian summer camp in the Texas Hill Country, announced that they lost 27 campers and counselors to the floodwaters. Kerr County officials said 10 campers and one counselor were still unaccounted for Monday.

Searchers have found the bodies of 84 people, including 28 children, in the county home to Camp Mystic and several other summer camps, officials said.

With additional rain on the way, more flooding still threatened saturated parts of central Texas. Authorities said the death toll was sure to rise.

The raging flash floods, among the nation’s worst in decades, slammed into camps and homes along the edge of the Guadalupe River before daybreak Friday, pulling sleeping people out of their cabins, tents and trailers and dragging them for miles past floating tree trunks and cars. Some survivors were found clinging to trees.

Piles of twisted trees sprinkled with mattresses, refrigerators and coolers littered the riverbanks Monday. The debris included reminders of what drew so many to the campgrounds and cabins in the Hill Country — a volleyball, canoes and a family portrait.

Nineteen deaths were reported in Travis, Burnet, Kendall, Tom Green and Williamson counties, local officials said.

Among those confirmed dead were 8-year-old sisters from Dallas who were at Camp Mystic and a former soccer coach and his wife who were staying at a riverfront home. Their daughters were still missing.

Calls for finding why warnings weren't heard

Authorities vowed that one of the next steps would be investigating whether enough warnings were issued and why some camps did not evacuate or move to higher ground in a place long vulnerable to flooding that some local residents refer to as “flash flood alley.”

That will include a review of how weather warnings were sent out and received. One of the challenges is that many camps and cabins are in places with poor cellphone service, Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said.

“We definitely want to dive in and look at all those things,” he said. “We’re looking forward to doing that once we can get the search and rescue complete.”

Some camps were aware of the dangers and monitoring the weather. At least one moved several hundred campers to higher ground before the floods.

Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, said recent government spending cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Weather Service did not delay any warnings.

“There’s a time to have political fights, there’s a time to disagree. This is not that time,” Cruz said. “There will be a time to find out what could been done differently. My hope is in time we learn some lessons to implement the next time there is a flood.”

The weather service first advised of potential flooding on Thursday and then sent out a series of flash flood warnings in the early hours of Friday before issuing flash flood emergencies — a rare step that alerts the public to imminent danger.

Authorities and elected officials have said they did not expect such an intense downpour, the equivalent of months of rain. Some residents said they never received any warnings.

President Donald Trump, who signed a major disaster declaration for Kerr County and plans to visit the area, said Sunday that he does not plan to rehire any of the federal meteorologists who were fired this year.

“This was a thing that happened in seconds. Nobody expected it,” the president said.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said local and federal weather services provided sufficient warnings.

“That was an act of God. It’s not the administration’s fault that the flood hit when it did, but there were early and consistent warnings,” Leavitt said.

More than three dozen people were unaccounted for across the state and more could be missing, Gov. Greg Abbott said Sunday.

Search-and-rescue crews at one staging area said Monday that more than 1,000 volunteers had been directed to Kerr County.

Little time to escape floods

Reagan Brown said his parents, in their 80s, managed to escape uphill as water inundated their home in the town of Hunt. When the couple learned that their 92-year-old neighbor was trapped in her attic, they went back and rescued her.

“Then they were able to reach their tool shed up higher ground, and neighbors throughout the early morning began to show up at their tool shed, and they all rode it out together,” Brown said.

Elizabeth Lester, a mother of children who were at Camp Mystic and nearby Camp La Junta during the flood, said her young son had to swim out his cabin window to escape. Her daughter fled up the hillside as floodwaters whipped against her legs.