Migrant ship stranded at sea

Rome – Italy and Malta faced international pressure yesterday to come to the aid of a rescue ship carrying hundreds of migrants which is stranded in the Mediterranean as the two countries refuse to allow them ashore.

A total of 629 people, including pregnant women and scores of children, were saved by SOS Mediterranee on Saturday and are stuck aboard the French charity’s ship Aquarius between Malta and Sicily.

Both have refused to take the migrants in. The UN called on the two nations to immediately allow the boat to dock, describing it as “an urgent humanitarian imperative”. –