Thread: Boat carrying more than 600 asylum seekers has refused entry by Italy

Asylum seekers on board the SOS Mediterranee ship Aquarius after being rescued by the Italian Navy, Coast Guard, and merchant ships.

Italy has refused to allow a humanitarian ship carrying more than 600 migrants and refugees to dock at its ports, officials say, and has now asked the Mediterranean island of Malta to open its doors to the vessel.

Key points

• Italy's Government faces test of election promise to stop asylum seekers
• More than 600,000 asylum seekers have reached Italy by boat since 2013
• UN estimates that at least 500 have died crossing the Mediterranean Sea in 2018

Malta brushed off the request, saying it had nothing to do with the rescue operation, opening the prospect of a diplomatic rift between the two European Union allies.



More than 600,000 migrants and refugees have reached Italy by boat from Africa in the past five years.