Charities have called for rescued children in the Mediterranean to be allowed to disembark at a safe port, as a row with Italy escalates over the arrival of a growing number of migrants.

Four humanitarian ships carrying migrants are waiting for permission to dock safely in Italy, in light of the deteriorating conditions at sea due to bad weather.

"We have many babies on board, as well as women with their babies. We urgently need to designate a port for us" for anchoring, Hermione Bushman of Mission Laughlin, which operates the rescue ship Rise Abough, told AFP.

Italy's new hard-right government, which took office last month, has vowed to crack down on migrant boats sailing from North Africa towards Europe.

The German ship "Rise Abab", which rescued 95 people in 3 operations on Thursday, is carrying 42 minors, including 8 infants, the youngest of whom are 7 and 10 months old.

"The situation will continue to deteriorate as a result of the enormous psychological pressure on the people on board," said mission commander Clemens Lidowa.

The four ships, the Rise Above, the Humanity 1, the Ocean Viking and the Geo Barents, are carrying in total more than 1,000 people rescued in the Mediterranean.

Italy announced Friday that it will allow the ship "Humanity 1" of the German non-governmental organization "SOS Humanity" to dock in its territorial waters so that doctors can conduct examinations of the passengers.

A medical evacuation of a woman whose pregnancy is at high risk had to be performed on #OceanViking.


Her husband, their 7 y/o daughter & 2 y/o son are still on the ship.

Our team can only try to console them.

The 459 remaining survivors must disembark in a Place of Safety now.

pic.twitter.com/jgAPBryvEK

— SOS MEDITERRANEE (@SOSMedIntl) September 2, 2022

Action "illegal"

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani stated that his country would receive minors and pregnant women or women who arrived with children, but that the ship would then have to "remove" the rest of the migrants from Italian territorial waters.

Italy is facing mounting pressure to allow humanitarian ships to dock;

Germany sent a diplomatic note to Italy on Thursday asking its government to provide assistance urgently.

But Lucas Kaldenhof of SOS Humanity stated that the organization had not received any communication whatsoever from the Italian authorities" about medical examinations and no port was assigned to it.

Humanity 1 entered Italian waters during the night.

"More than 100 of the 179 people on board are minors, including a seven-month-old baby," Kaldenhoff told AFP.

In turn, the organization's support officer, Mirka Schafer, pointed out in a statement that the government's decision to receive only some people is "undoubtedly an illegal (action)."

She explained that "the survivors fled Libya, where they were subjected to human rights violations such as torture. As refugees, they are clearly in a fragile situation, and the psychological trauma is evident on some of them."

"Those who have been rescued must be allowed immediate access to land where they can be guaranteed access to medical and psychological care and where they can exercise their right to apply for international protection," she added.

Buschmann said the ship was off Catania, Sicily, on Saturday, along with the "Rise's Apave," which is also looking for a port of call.

She stressed that the 25-meter-long boat is "small and designed for rapid response, and is not prepared to wait for long periods."

The ship usually transported rescued people to larger charity boats, but there was not enough space to receive them.

A photographer on board the SOS Mediterranee's "Ocean Viking" told AFP that conditions at sea "are getting worse and we are expecting more rain."

He added that "those on board the boat are not in good condition, as they suffer from seasickness, including children," stressing that there are 57 minors among the 234 migrants.

MSF's "Geo Barents", which is currently carrying 572 rescued people, said it had also entered Italian waters and was looking for a port after obtaining permission from the authorities.

"We have been waiting for more than 10 days for a safe port to dock," mission official Matthias Gill said.