First they were stuck at sea, now they are stuck in the harbor of Catania. The Italian government is refusing to let 177 rescued migrants disembark from a Coast Guard ship unless other EU countries promise to take them in.
The 177 rescued migrants on the Diciotti ship have not yet been allowed to leave the boat as of early Wednesday afternoon. The Italian Coast Guard's ship docked in the Catania port on Monday night, but the Italian government has said that it will not let the migrants exit the boat unless other EU countries agree to take them in.
Sources close to Interior minister Salvini have reportedly said he would not allow the migrants to get off the boat until there was a "certainty the 177 would go somewhere else."
On Wednesday, the Italian foreign ministry "officially and formally" requested the intervention of the EU. On Wednesday morning, no volunteers or Civil Protection personnel to help with the disembarking were in the port, only the Coast Guard, police, financial police and Carabinieri.
The 177 migrants had been rescued near Lampedusa, an Italian island near Malta. Before the ship was allowed to dock in Italy, there was a standoff between Italy and Malta over the fate of the migrants for several days - both countries viewed the other as responsible.