After two days of sailing, Doctors Without Borders' (MSF) search-and-rescue vessel Geo Barents disembarked 38 migrants in the Italian port of Ancona last week, including seven in need of medical attention.

Some of the migrants were taken to hospital, Geo Barents' head of sea rescues Riccardo Gatti told ANSA.

Polemics over port assignments

"Thirty-eight people is a small number considering the many miles that we traveled. Clearly we could have disembarked them using our dinghies at any other port," said Gatti.

The shipwreck survivors rescued by Geo Barents -- including a child -- had been sailing for about two days on a small boat, said Gatti.

Gatti said the ship's assignment to the port of Ancona, located in northern Italy, was too far away.

"We can't understand it. Those making the decisions should answer," he said. "We reiterate that they are violating conventions and regulations at the international and European level. What is happening is that, unfortunately, the consequence of ports far away means the lack of rescue systems like the Geo Barents in the areas where rescues occur."

He said that the fewer rescues facilitated at sea, the more people die.

MSF 'not active' in the zone where Greek shipwreck occurred

On the shipwreck in Greece, he explained: "That is not a zone we patrol. There is someone engaged in rescue operations there and it is the Greek Coast Guard. We operate where there is no Coast Guard."