Italy allowed an NGO rescue ship to disembark overnight on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, carrying 33 migrants, while two other ships carrying more than 500 migrants on board remain at sea.
The rescue ship Louise Michel was allowed to dock due to its increased exposure to strong winds, public broadcaster RAI reported. The Italian Interior Ministry had no immediate comment.
Two other ships belonging to NGOs, the Geo Barents and the Humanity 1, with more than 500 people on board, were still waiting to disembark, without knowing if they will finally be assigned a safe port.
On Wednesday, a baby was born aboard the Geo Barents ship and was later flown to nearby Sicily.
SOS Humanity stated that, after three rescues of migrants carried out in recent days, and in a context of worsening weather conditions, 261 rescued people remain on board the Humanity 1 ship, including some 30 women, some of them pregnant women, and more than 90 minors, most of them unaccompanied.
Despite requests for help sent to both Italy and Malta during the rescue operations, “no coordination by the rescue coordination centers took place,” the NGO said in a statement.
The growing number of migrants stranded at sea risks leading to a new confrontation with Italy’s right-wing government, in a repeat of last month’s drama that also involved France.
In November, Rome welcomed three NGO vessels, but denied a fourth the right to dock, forcing it to sail to France with some 230 people on board.
The French government complained vehemently and counterattacked by saying it would stop hosting 3,000 migrants already in Italy under a voluntary European burden-sharing agreement.