Italy gives safe port to 558 migrants rescued at sea

Migrants are rescued by members of the German NGO Sea-Watch during a search and rescue (SAR) operation in the Mediterranean Sea on Christmas day, December 25, 2021. Max Brugger/Sea Watch/Handout via REUTERS

CATANIA, Italy (Reuters) - Italy on Tuesday allowed a charity boat carrying hundreds of migrants rescued at sea to dock in the Sicilian port of Augusta, with another vessel waiting offshore for permission to bring 440 more to land.

The Geo Barents ship, run by charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF), took onboard 558 people, mainly Africans, in eight separate operations off the coast of Libya in the last 11 days, the charity said.