More than 230 migrants rescued last week remain stranded off Malta aboard a German rescue ship as EU countries argue over where it might dock.
A sick passenger was evacuated to Malta from the Lifeline on Monday night.
The German charity Mission Lifeline tweeted that conditions were worsening for the migrants on board its ship. Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini called it an “outlaw” ship.
But 108 migrants have been taken ashore in Italy from a Danish container ship.
The Alexander Maersk was allowed to dock in the Sicilian port of Pozzallo.
The dispute over the Lifeline echoes that which surrounded the Aquarius, whose 630 migrants were finally taken to the Spanish port of Valencia last week, after being blocked by Italy and Malta.
Italian broadcaster Rai says rough weather has made a solution for the Lifeline all the more urgent.
The Maltese government tweeted that it was trying to prevent a “humanitarian crisis” concerning the Lifeline, but wanted a “sharing of responsibility” among EU states.
Read more on the migrant crisis:
■ The Aquarius: Migrant taxi service or charitable rescuers?
■ Can the EU reach a new deal on migrants?
■ Reality Check: Who is responsible for migrants at sea?
Italy’s new populist government has closed its ports to rescue ships operated by charities in the Mediterranean, saying its EU partners must share the burden of looking after migrants picked up off Libya’s coast.
Mr Salvini accuses Lifeline and other NGOs of hampering the work of the Libyan coastguard and Italian navy, who take rescued migrants – most of them Africans – back to holding centres in Libya. He says the charity ships are acting like a taxi service, ferrying undocumented migrants to the EU.
Charities and human rights campaigners say migrants face serious risks in Libya at the hands of people-smuggling gangs and militias.
They also argue that people fleeing war and persecution have a right to asylum. In recent years refugees from Syria, Iraq and other war zones have headed for the EU.
No breakthrough on migrants was reached at a meeting of 16 EU leaders in Brussels on Sunday.
Italy – the destination for most of the migrants from North Africa – wants EU penalties for countries refusing to accept a quota system.
The Visegrad Group – Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia – refuse to take in any migrants from other EU states.
Mr Salvini, on a visit to Libya on Monday, called for migrant processing centres to be set up in African countries – an idea also backed by France.
Asylum claims could be assessed before migrants risk their lives in the Mediterranean, but African governments have shown little or no enthusiasm for the idea.
Source: BBC news
