Italy, Malta must allow ‘immediate disembarkation’ of stranded migrants: UN

Geneva (AFP) – The UN refugee agency on Monday called on Italy and Malta to immediately allow a boat carrying hundreds of migrants to dock, describing the situation as “an urgent humanitarian imperative.”

A statement from the agency “appealed to concerned governments to allow the immediate disembarkation of hundreds of people stranded in the Mediterranean since Saturday aboard a rescue ship, the Aquarius,” adding that the estimated 629 people on board “are running out of provisions.”