France says it will allow the Ocean Viking, carrying 234 people rescued while crossing the Mediterranean, to dock on its southern coast, after a standoff with Italy over whose responsibility it was to take them in.
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said on Thursday that the Ocean Viking, whose passengers include 57 children, would be granted access to the military port of Toulon "on an exceptional basis".
Speaking after a cabinet meeting, he called Italy's refusal to allow the ship to enter its ports "incomprehensible".
The ship "is located without any doubt in Italy's search and rescue zone", he said, adding that "it was Italy's job to immediately designate a port to welcome this ship".
Long-term health risks
The rescue boat is expected to arrive in Toulon on Friday.
SOS Méditerranée, the NGO that operates the Ocean Viking, requested assistance from the French authorities on 8 November as sanitary conditions worsened onboard and Italy denied access to its ports.
Earlier on Thursday, France's maritime agency announced plans to send a helicopter to evacuate three migrants from the boat in need of urgent medical care, plus one caregiver.
"One of the patients is unstable and no longer reacting to treatment since 27 October," a spokeswoman for SOS Méditerranée told French news agency AFP.
"The two others were injured in Libya and because of this long wait for treatment, they risk having long-term health issues," she said.
After Darmanin's announcement, SOS Méditerranée said it felt "relief tainted with bitterness".
European standoff
The French-Italian tensions are the latest episode in a European standoff over where to disembark migrants picked up after trying to reach Europe from North Africa, with Italy increasingly frustrated at taking in the bulk of those rescued.
Darmanin also warned that "it is obvious that there will be extremely severe consequences for bilateral relations" with Italy.
He said France had already decided to freeze a plan to take 3,500 migrants currently in Italy, part of a European burden-sharing accord, and urged Germany and other European Union nations to do the same.
Germany has agreed to accept a third of the people onboard the Ocean Viking once they have been processed in France, Darmanin said.
Since the beginning of 2022, 1,891 migrants have gone missing in the Mediterranean, including 1,337 in the central Mediterranean, according to the International Organization for Migration.
More than 88,000 asylum seekers reached Italy during the same period, Italian authorities say.
The country has long complained that it takes in a larger share of migrants than its European allies due to its position on the Mediterranean, which makes it one of the closest parts of Europe to set sail for from North Africa.
Rome is pushing for an agreement to redistribute migrants based on the size of EU countries' populations.
Earlier this week, Italy's new far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, stoked the diplomatic row by thanking France for opening a port to the Ocean Viking – without any confirmation, or denial, from Paris.
