After trying for three weeks to dock somewhere on the Italian coast, the Ocean Viking rescue vessel of the NGO SOS Méditerranée finally dropped anchor at the southern French port city of Toulon on Friday morning. The ship holds 230 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya.
The French Interior minister Gérald Darmanin gave the vessel permission to dock on Thursday, calling his decision a "duty to humanity", but adding that permission had been given "as an exception". Darmanin also denounced Italy's "incomprehensible choice" not to allow the ship to dock and accused Rome of "not behaving like a responsible European state".
Sick people and those with special disabilities will be the first set foot on French soil after they have been examined onboard by a doctor. Women, children and families will follow, followed by single men.
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On Thursday evening, Darmanin said nine other European countries had committed to take in some of the migrants. Germany would accept "more than eighty" people, he said, while Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Luxembourg and Ireland have also promised to accommodate some of those onboard.
The Interior Minister was careful to stress that only those refugees who are eligible for asylum will be permitted to stay in France. "Those who are not entitled to asylum will immediately return to their country of origin," Darmanin said.
