Migrant ship ‘must go to Britain’

ITALY has demanded Britain take in 141 migrants rescued by a ship operating under the flag of Gibraltar.

The Aquarius, used by French aid groups, picked up the group in two missions over the weekend.

The vessel is in international waters off Italy and Malta after both countries refused to allow it to dock and Spain said its ports were not the safest destination.

Italy’s transport minister, Danilo Toninelli, instead claimed the UK should take responsibility for the migrants because the boat sailed under the flag of a British territory.

He tweeted: ‘At this point, the united Kingdom should assume its responsibility to safeguard the castaways.’

The French aid groups SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders have called on European nations to identify a close port so the migrants from Somalia and Eritrea can disembark. They include 67 unaccompanied minors and many are weak and malnourished.

Sophie Beau, head of the vessel’s operator SOS Mediterranee, said: ‘We’re asking all European countries to find a solution. We’re asking them to be responsible and find a safe port in the Mediterranean.’

The European Commission said that, in theory, a flag state of a rescue ship could be a potential location for disembarkation, but that might not be possible in practice.