France to take in 20 migrants from stranded rescue ship

ANKARA

France is ready to take in 20 migrants on a rescue ship which has been stranded in the Mediterranean Sea, its interior minister said Friday.

Christopher Castaner said in a tweet his ministry will set a date in the coming hours to facilitate the transfer.

He added that Germany and some other European partners will take in the migrants after they disembark at the nearest port in capital Valtetta, Malta.

Alan Kurdi, a ship named after a Syrian boy who drowned while trying to make it to Europe, rescued 64 irregular migrants off the Libyan coast on April 3.

Malta, Italy and Libya have so far refused to accept the migrants, said Sea-Eye, the German humanitarian group which operates the ship.

"The situation on board is really tough. We still have 62 people on board plus 17 crew members and the boat is really not made for so many people," Carlotta Weibl, spokeswoman of Sea-Eye, told Anadolu Agency early Wednesday.

More than 250 international non-governmental organizations -- including Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders and Sea Watch -- wrote an open letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week asking for her support on changing the EU’s refugee policy regulations.

Some 30,510 migrants died between 2014 and 2018 while making the treacherous journey to Europe, the UN agency reported in early January.

*Can Erozden in Ankara contributed to this story.