Rome: Twenty-seven minors on board the Italian coastguard vessel Diciotti were allowed to disembark at the Sicilian port of Catania on Thursday after about a week at sea, Italian news agencies reported. Aid organisation Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it had finally been able to meet the children, who according to the Italian Interior Ministry are all between 14 and 16 years old.
The remaining migrants on the ship, which rescued 177 people from the Mediterranean last week, are still being prevented from entering thecountry, the reports said.
Italy’s hardline Interior Minister, Matteo Salvini, dug in his heels on Wednesday against pressure to end what some say is an unconstitutional confinement of the others on board. He is demanding that other European Union countries take in the remaining migrants.
Germany received a request to receive some of the migrants, but the government in Berlin has not yet made a decision on the issue.
The Interior Ministry in Rome said that the European Commission has called a meeting on the subject on Friday. Salvini continued his hardline rhetoric on Thursday. “There are only illegal immigrants on the Diciotti,” the head of the right-wing Lega party said.
Italian media reports said the Sicilian public prosecutor was investigating an unknown person for illegal imprisonment.
“It is not an unknown person, THEY ARE INVESTIGATING ME!” Salvini tweeted. “I am the one who doesn’t want any more ILLEGALS to land in Italy.”
After a diplomatic stand-off with Malta, the Diciotti was allowed to dock in Catania, Sicily, late on Monday, but not to disembark any passengers.
The migrants were rescued a week ago after getting into trouble on the open sea in the Mediterranean.
The new populist government in Rome has stopped various migrant ships from docking in Italy since it took office in June.
Salvini would like to send them all back to Libya, the main departure point for the usually dangerously overladen boats heading for Europe.
Human rights groups say the migrants face torture and modern-day slavery back in Libya. — dpa
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