Ship with 900 migrants docks at Italy

A vessel carrying more than 900 migrants has docked on the Italian island of Sicily.

The Italian coastguard vessel, the Diciotti, had picked up the migrants off the coast of Libya.

Italy on Sunday had refused to allow the Franco-German ship Aquarius, packed with migrants, to dock, sparking an international row.

The Diciotti was allowed to land as it is an Italian vessel carrying out a government mission.

It sailed into Catania on Wednesday morning, carrying 937 migrants and the bodies of two people who had died making the voyage.

The Aquarius, which is carrying 629 migrants, is run by the Franco-German NGO SOS Méditerranée and had to be granted permission to dock.

Matteo Salvini, Italy's new interior minister and leader of the right-wing League party, refused permission as part of a new hard line policy on migrants.

He said Malta should accept the Aquarius but it refused, arguing it fell under Italy's jurisdiction.


SOURCE: BBC NEWS
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