Five European countries have agreed to take in dozens of migrants saved by the Sea-Watch charity ship, Italy said Friday, signalling the end of a lengthy stand off which the ship's captain described as "incredibly tense".
At the moment the situation is incredibly tense, getting worse and worse," Carola Rackete, captain of the Sea-Watch 3 told journalists in Rome, via a live video-link from the ship.
"It's very difficult for them all psychologically," said the 31-year old, who has become a symbol of defiance and a left-wing hero in Italy for challenging Interior Minister Matteo Salvini's "closed-ports" policy.
She has warned that those rescued are victims of trauma and are being hit hard by the uncertainty over their fate.
"The necessity to go into port is to prevent any harm or any self-harm which people might be contemplating," she added.
Just a couple of hours later, Italy's foreign ministry said Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Portugal had agreed to host the migrants.
But it was not clear when or where they would be allowed to disembark.
"We are waiting for precise guarantees on numbers, timelines and means," interior ministry sources said.
The Dutch-flagged Sea-Watch 3 has been stuck in the Mediterranean, during a heat wave, since rescuing 53 migrants drifting in an inflatable raft off the coast of Libya on June 12.
The most vulnerable people were evacuated, but Salvini insisted the rest were unwelcome.
On Wednesday, after over two weeks at sea, and as tempers on the small boat frayed, Rackete decided she had no choice but to enter Italian waters illegally to bring the remaining 42 migrants to safety.
Prosecutors in Agrigento in Sicily opened an investigation into Rackete Friday on suspicion of aiding illegal immigration. Salvini has called for her to be slapped with a hefty fine and he wants the ship seized.
While a sick 19-year-old migrant and his young brother were evacuated from the vessel Thursday, on Friday the ship was still stuck off the island of Lampedusa.
It had tried to enter the port - where demonstrators have been massing in support - but was blocked by police.
"The mood on the ship is quite bad," Rackete said.
Salvini has said the migrants can only disembark if they head straight to the Netherlands, where the Sea-Watch 3 is registered, or to Germany.
The head of the far-right League party has seen his popularity inch steadily upwards on the anti-immigrant platform.
Five Italian left-wing MPs spent the night onboard the ship in a gesture of solidarity. "We'll remain onboard until all of the migrants have disembarked," said Graziano Delrio, who was the minister in charge of the Italian coastguard between 2015 and 2018.
Rackete had refused to return those rescued to Libya, saying the conflict-hit North African country was not a safe port - despite an EU deal with the Libyan coastguard, which sees many boat migrants returned.
Italy's foreign minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi appeared to support the captain Friday.
"The definition of a safe port depends on international conventions... These conditions are not met in Libya," he said.
Despite Salvini's hard-line stance, migrants are continuing to arrive in Italy, even if not in the same numbers as during the period between 2014 and 2017. Nearly 500 migrants have landed on Italy's coast over the past 16 days, according to the Italian interior ministry.
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