NGO rescue ship with 800 migrants aboard asks Italy for safe port

Migrants on a wooden boat wait to be rescued by German NGO search and rescue ship Sea-Eye 4 during a search and rescue (SAR) operation in the Mediterranean Sea, November 3, 2021. Picture taken November 3, 2021. Hugo Le Beller/Sea-Eye/Handout via REUTERS

ROME (Reuters) -German rescue charity Sea-Eye said on Thursday it had asked Italy for a safe port to disembark some 800 migrants it rescued from boats in distress in the central Mediterranean.

The charity vessel SEA-EYE 4 Took onboard another 400 people from a wooden boat on Wednesday night in a seventh rescue operation since it set sail in mid-October, bringing the total to around 800, Sea-Eye said in a statement.