Making waves Italy and Malta in row over migrants

Italy and Malta were in a tense standoff last night over which should accept an NGO rescue boat carrying 629 migrants.

Malta said the rescue of the migrants from Libya had been coordinated by Rome and was therefore the responsibility of Italy. But Italy’s coalition government, in what could be the start of a new, hard-line stance, said it would not accept them.

Matteo Salvini, the interior minister, who is also head of the hard-right, anti-migrant League party, wrote a letter to Malta saying that the Maltese capital, Valletta, was the nearest port of call.

The migrants were rescued by the Aquarius, a vessel operated by Medecins Sans Frontieres and SOS Méditerranée.