The Open Arms migrant rescue ship was detained on Thursday (October 5) after arriving in the northern port of Marina di Carrara carrying 176 migrants, including 94 unaccompanied minors and a pregnant woman.

This marks the second time in the past four months the boat has been placed under administrative detention for allegedly violating new rules governing search and rescue operations carried out by civilian vessels in the central Mediterranean.

The vessel will be grounded for 20 days.

Migrants in good health, transferred to several regions

Initial reception procedures for the 176 migrants were concluded Wednesday evening.

They were transferred to several different reception centers in the Tuscany, Lombardy, Emilia Romagna, Liguria and Veneto regions.

Most are from Gambia and Syria, while others are from Senegal, Egypt, Chad, Mali, Sudan, Eritrea, Guinea, Nigeria and Bangladesh.

Five received medical prescriptions after being examined, but none were hospitalized. The pregnant woman is in good health.

The screening did not find signs of maltreatment or torture on the bodies of any of the migrants.

Fresh sanctions by government, polemics with NGO

The Open Arms vessel was detained and fined several thousand euros for violating an Italian decree that came into effect this year prohibiting multiple rescues at sea on one trip.

The NGO criticized the detention of its vessel on social media.

"The crime? Having saved 176 lives in danger in 3 rescue operations in international waters in the central Mediterranean," it wrote on the X social media platform said.

"We will bear this unjust detention and the resulting legal costs, but we find it unacceptable to have to suffer this situation because we have done our duty, respecting the Law of the Sea and international conventions," it added.

"It is the legal and moral obligation of the captain of any ship to provide assistance to shipwrecked persons in distress. Failure to render assistance is a serious offense punishable by law."