Migrants disembark in Italy, govt will continue to block charity ships

31 Jan, 2019 14:37 / Updated 5 years ago

Migrants forced to remain on board the ship that rescued them off the coast of Libya almost two weeks ago stepped onto dry land in Sicily on Thursday. The Sea-Watch 3, run by a German humanitarian group, docked in the port of Catania to disembark the 47 people, including 15 minors, that it picked up on January 19. It was the second time in a month that the Sea Watch has been forced to spend several days at sea while EU countries haggled over who would welcome migrants. Italy had been taking in all boat migrants picked up from unsafe and overcrowded boats off the coast of Libya until a new government took over last year and shut the ports. The government has now promised to continue to block charity ships from its ports, Reuters reports.