German official: migrants should be able to disembark ship off Italian coast

Germany is in talks with Rome about the fate of rescued migrants who were stranded on a German-flagged charity vessel off the Italian coast and wants them to be given permission to disembark, a spokesperson said on Monday.

The vessel had refused to leave the Sicilian port of Catania on Sunday, after Italian authorities said not all the migrants it was carrying could disembark, the NGO responsible for the vessel said.

Rome said minors and people in need of urgent medical care, in total 144 of 179 passengers, could disembark from Humanity 1, which had been permitted to dock in Catania.

However, UN agencies said later on Monday that hundreds of other rescued migrants and refugees remained stranded on three other NGO vessels in international waters and urged governments to allow them to come ashore. "Those stranded need to be disembarked swiftly without any further delay," the International Organization of Migration said in a statement.

The IOM said that 234 were on the Ocean Viking; 217 on Geo Barents and 88 on the Rise Above in addition to those still stuck on Humanity 1. Many had been at sea for up to two weeks, it added.

At least 1,337 people have gone missing on the Central Mediterranean migration route this year according to IOM's Missing Migrants Project.