ITALY’S interior minister has said Malta should allow a Dutch-flagged rescue ship carrying hundreds of rescued migrants to make port there because it is in Maltese waters.

“We ask ... that Malta finally opens one of its ports and lets these desperate people disembark,” Matteo Salvini said.

International law says Malta must respond if it is the nearest safe port. The situation is similar to the stand-off over the Aquarius which eventually sailed to spain with 630 migrants.