German aid group: 89 migrants allowed to disembark in Italy

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — A German humanitarian group says its ship has docked in southern Italy and disembarked all 89 people who had been rescued at sea. The group Mission Lifeline had waited for days for Italy to assign the 25-meter (80-foot) freighter a port after it entered Italian waters over the weekend without consent because of rough seas. The group posted videos on Tuesday of the Rise Above docking in Reggio Calabria. Other migrant sagas were continuing under Italy’s new hard-right government, which is taking a hard line with nongovernmental organizations operating private migrant rescue ships in the central Mediterranean Sea. It has instructed NGO-operated ships to ports and allowed only passengers considered vulnerable to get off.