PARIS (AP) - Germany and France said Friday they are prepared to take in more than half of the rescued migrants on board a rescue ship in the Mediterranean that has been stranded at sea for nine days.
In a tweet, French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said France, along with Germany and some other European countries which he didn’t identify, had agreed to welcome migrants out of “solidarity” to allow them to disembark in Valletta, Malta.
France, he said, is ready to take in 20 of the migrants on board the Alan Kurdi.
Germany’s interior ministry later tweeted that Germany was offering to take in up to 22 people. The German humanitarian aid group Sea-Eye had 64 rescued migrants in total on board the boat, including two women who were evacuated from the ship this week for medical reasons.
Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has said his country is refusing to allow port access to the ship, saying that the NGO should have headed to Tunisia, the nearest safe port to the rescue spot. Italy has also refused entry.
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