Rome, Oct. 22, (dpa/GNA) – The Italian authorities have granted permission to a German ship carrying more than 400 migrants rescued from boats on the Mediterranean Sea to dock at the Sicilian port of Pozzallo.
Sea-Watch, the Berlin-based organization that operates the Sea-Watch 3 vessel, made the announcement on Twitter on Friday.
The crew took the migrants aboard in several rescue operations on Sunday and Monday and have since then been seeking a port to land them.
The Italian coastguard earlier took pregnant women and women with severe fuel burns off the Sea-Watch 3.
Italy’s ANSA news agency reported several arrivals on the Calabrian coast in southern Italy on Thursday and Friday.
A number of private organizations are working to pick up migrants leaving the North African coastline in unseaworthy boats in an attempt to reach Europe.
Their operations have provoked controversy in Italy, which has taken in thousands of migrants, many of them landing on the Italian island of Lampedusa off the Tunisian coast.
GNA