The humanitarian rescue ship Open Arms rescued a further 77 migrants on Thursday night. Among those rescued were 11 women and two children. The ship was already carrying 83 previously rescued migrants.
Denmark has appointed a new special migration envoy to "help open doors" towards a new EU migration policy which would push reception centers outside EU borders. The government on Thursday also said that Tunisia should take in the 27 migrants aboard the Danish-flagged tanker Maersk Etienne which has been stranded off Malta for weeks.
According to the German news magazine Spiegel, Germany's Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure is about to make work for the sea rescuers and human rights activists operating in the Mediterranean Sea more difficult by introducing new safety regulations.
After close to two weeks at sea, Italy has allowed charity rescue ship Sea-Watch 4 to bring the over 350 migrants it has on board to Sicily. Meanwhile, the aunt of famous Syrian boy Alan Kurdi, who drowned in 2015 trying to reach Greece, pleaded not to "turn our back" on refugees.
A vessel with 74 migrants and two people smugglers on board has reached the port of Katakolo in western Greece after sending distress signals over the weekend. Two Turkish nationals on board the yacht have been detained.
The Greek coast guard has rescued more than 50 migrants whose boat was in distress south of the island of Rhodes. Two people are still missing from a separate rescue in the Aegean earlier this week.
The famous UK street artist Banksy has sponsored a new migrant rescue boat active in the central Mediterranean. The pink yacht reportedly rescued 89 people on Thursday. It has also helped with two rescue operations carried out by the Sea-Watch 4.
Nearly 100 migrants were rescued on Tuesday night from Aegean waters near the Greek island of Rhodes. The Greek coast guard said it would continue searching for survivors after their boat was found partially sunk.
As the Lampedusa hotspot becomes more overcrowded, Italian regional governors are protesting the transfer of migrants who arrived on the island to their regions. Meanwhile, a quarantine ship docked at Lampedusa is to take around 250 migrants on board.
The German NGO Sea-Eye is in the process of suing the Italian ministry of transport for blocking its search and rescue vessel Alan Kurdi in Sicily. The blockage has been preventing further necessary rescue missions in the Mediterranean, Sea-Eye said.
Three private humanitarian organizations -- Sea-Eye, Sea-Watch and SOS Mediterranee -- which operate rescue operations in the Mediterranean have called for the immediate release of their migrant rescue vessels, which are still blocked by Italian authorities. Among the allegations levelled against the charities by the Italian authorities are environmental pollution and transporting too many "passengers."
NGO-run ships in the Mediterranean are systematically conducting search-and-rescue (SAR) operations at sea and should therefore follow the requirements of the service they are undertaking on a regular basis, the head of the coast guards' Sixth navigation and maritime security department, Admiral Luigi Giardino, told ANSA in a recent interview.