(AFP) Italy allowed 116 rescued migrants to disembark from a coastguard ship Wednesday with Interior Minister Matteo Salvini’s backing after five EU countries and the Church agreed to share responsibility for looking after them.
The far-right minister used Facebook to announce his decision saying: “I will give authorisation (for the migrants) to disembark in the coming hours.”
By the end of the afternoon, the 116 male migrants he had forced to remain on the boat docked in Sicily for five days had been allowed ashore.
Italian prosecutors had opened an investigation into the conditions on the coastguard supply vessel, Bruno Gregoretti, where the migrants reportedly had only one toilet between them.
