Updated 10.30pm

Nearly 600 people, including a four-month baby and two children with a disability, will be disembarking in Sicily after being stranded at sea for days.

Humanitarian NGO SOS Mediterranee told Times of Malta late on Thursday that the survivors aboard the Ocean Viking had been assigned Augusta, Sicily, as a safe port.

It is yet unknown when the disembarkation will start and how long it will last.

The situation aboard the migrant rescue ship was growing desperate earlier on Thursday, driving one man to jump overboard as he “could not take the uncertainty anymore”.

The vessel was also running low on food.

The 572 people were rescued from six boats in distress, and some of them have been aboard the Ocean Viking for eight days as they wait for a safe port.

According to Marseille-based SOS Mediterranee, four of the six rescues took place in Maltese search-and-rescue waters, while the remaining two in Libyan SAR.

The Ocean Viking had sent five requests to the Malta and Libyan rescue coordination centres asking for the designation of a place of safety, while it also contacted the Italian maritime authorities to help with the swift disembarkation of survivors.

Tensions aboard the crowded vessel were increasing while three-quarters of the people aboard were seasick, an SOS Mediterranee spokesperson told Times of Malta earlier.

“The situation is desperate and is worsening by the hour. We are hoping that EU member states find a solution as soon as possible. If no solution is found the Ocean Viking will seek shelter to the east of Sicily as the weather will be deteriorating.”

The crowded situation on Ocean Viking. Photo: Flavio Gasperini_SOS Mediterranee

Search and rescue coordinator onboard the Ocean Viking Luisa Albera had also insisted that there was no time for discussions behind closed doors.

“Making survivors wait on the deck of our ship, exposed to the sun and elements, is inhumane. It is beyond imagination,” she said.

The medical and care teams reported increased psychological distress and exhaustion among the survivors. 

She said one of the minors with a disability was "showing signs of increasing body stiffness" because of a lack of physical movement and was in the medical clinic. 

Four-month-old Amine, from Guinea Conakry, is among the 572 survivors. Photo

“Keeping people on a ship for a prolonged period of time, when they have just been through a near-death experience at sea, is adding unnecessary and avoidable violence and suffering,” Albera said.

She added that the vessel will run out of pre-packed 24-hour food kits by Friday and will not be able to fulfil all survivors’ nutritional needs on Saturday. 

“With over 570 survivors accommodated on the aft deck of the Ocean Viking, all available space is being used, which makes it almost impossible for our teams to distribute any other kind of food than pre-packed rations covering 24 hours of nutritional needs for each person. 

“Cooked meals would take too long to prepare and it would be too complicated to distribute as people can barely move around the ship.”

Ocean Viking has sent five requests for a port of safety. Photo: Flavio Gasperini_SOS Mediterranee

The 572 people were rescued from six boats in distress. Photo: Flavio Gasperini_SOS Mediterranee

Silence from Maltese authorities 

Questions sent by Times of Malta to the Maltese government remain unanswered. 

Malta has also kept silent about a dramatic attempt by the Libyan coastguard to intercept a migrant boat in Malta's search-and-rescue zone last week.

Italy and Libya have already said they are looking into the incident that was captured on camera by humanitarian NGO Sea-Watch International.

The footage shows a crew aboard a Libyan coast guard vessel opening fire in the direction of a small boat carrying migrants and trying to ram it several times.

Malta has so far received 244 asylum seekers since the beginning of the year.

A man treated at the ship's clinic as rescuers await a safe port. Photo: Flavio Gasperini_SOS Mediterranee