Italy allows German migrant boat to dock in Sicily, another still at sea

Another vessel with 549 migrants aboard has been waiting for six days for a port to be assigned to. Photo / Sea-Watch 3 via AP

A German charity boat carrying 257 rescued migrants docked Saturday in Sicily after Italian authorities granted permission, but another humanitarian vessel with 549 aboard still awaited an assigned port six days after the start of rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea.

After several days in limbo at sea, Sea-Watch 3 sailed into port at Trapani, western Sicily. Among the migrants aboard were 70 minors, some of them traveling without adult guardians while trying to reach Europe. Health workers were administering Covid-19 tests to the migrants.

Italy appealed to the European Union earlier in the week to press fellow EU nations to take some of the thousands of asylum-seekers who have arrived in the country in recent months, a sharp uptick since 2020.

But similar past appeals for EU solidarity largely went unheeded, and there was no immediate signal the Italian government's latest pitch would prove more effective.

A French charity, SOS Mediterranee, said on Saturday (local time) its rescue vessel was still awaiting port authorisation. The Ocean Viking is carrying 549 passengers, including a 3-month-old infant, who were rescued in six separate operations over the course of the week, the organisation said.

A boat overcrowded with migrants is waiting to be rescued by Sea-Watch 3 in the Mediterranean sea. Photo / Sea-Watch via AP

The Italian coast guard took one migrant off the boat for medical reasons on Friday night, the fourth such evacuation from the Ocean Viking in recent days.

"The #OceanViking is still without any information about disembarking," SOS Mediterranee tweeted.

"Our medical team is observing ever more signs of psychological unease aboard. Yesterday, a person fainted due to exhaustion. We're running out of medicines."

Italy's interior minister earlier in the week pressed the European Union for an "urgent" change of direction on migrant policy. Right-wing leader Matteo Salvini, whose anti-migrant League party is a member of the country's wide-ranging coalition, is insisting Premier Mario Draghi act decisively to stem the flow of migrants arriving on Italy's shores.