Migrants stand aboard the Italian Coast Guard ship Diciotti, moored at the Catania harbor, Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018. One and seventy-seven migrants rescued at sea remained aboard the Italian Coast Guard ship Diciotti Tuesday morning as the Italian government refused to let them disembark in the port of Catania until other European countries agree to take them.The Diciotti arrived in the port of Catania late Monday night after spending days off the Italian coast as the Italian and Maltese government bickered over where they will be taken. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli)
MILAN - Humanitarian groups urged the Italian government Tuesday to allow 177 migrants aboard an Italian coast guard ship docked at the Sicilian port of Catania to be permitted to disembark.
Doctors Without Borders, the U.N. refugee agency and Save the Children have all appealed to the government to let the migrants off the ship for humanitarian and medical reasons.
The Italian coast guard ship Diciotto arrived in Catania late Monday, but the Italian government won't let them off the ship until it has pledges from other European countries to take them, in the latest standoff over migrants being rescued at sea.
The migrants rescued last week have been on the boat about six days.
Doctors Without Borders said its team is standing by to offer psychological assistance to the migrants, urged Italy "to allow disembarkation so that rapid treatment can be given."
Giovanna Benedetta of Save the Children noted that many of the migrants aboard the ship had been detained in Libya for months before the passage on overcrowded smugglers' ships and were traumatized. Twenty-eight are unaccompanied minors.
And Carlotta Sami of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees tweeted that "they have an urgent need to receive assistance and to ask for asylum. It is a fundamental right, not a crime."
Malta has declined to take them, saying the smugglers' boat they were in wasn't in distress as it passed Maltese waters and that, in any case, the migrants preferred to continue to Italy.
Italy has asked the EU to work out a solution and follows a threat by Interior Minister Matteo Salvini to send them back to Libya.
A man stands on the deck of the Italian Coast Guard ship "Diciotti" moored at the Catania harbor Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018. The European Union is trying to find countries willing to take 177 people rescued at sea after Italy sought its help to deal with yet another migrant standoff with Malta. The Italian coast guard ship Diciotti that had been sitting off Italy's Lampedusa island entered Catania's harbor. Rome asked Malta to take them in but Malta, the EU's smallest member country - refused, saying the migrant boat wasn't in distress and that the migrants declined Maltese assistance, preferring to continue toward Italy. (Orietta Scardino/ANSA via AP)
A man stands on the deck of the Italian Coast Guard ship Diciotti, moored at the Catania harbor, Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018. One and seventy-seven migrants rescued at sea remained aboard the Italian Coast Guard ship Diciotti Tuesday morning as the Italian government refused to let them disembark in the port of Catania until other European countries agree to take them.The Diciotti arrived in the port of Catania late Monday night after spending days off the Italian coast as the Italian and Maltese government bickered over where they will be taken. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli)
Migrants stand on the deck of the Italian Coast Guard ship Diciotti, moored at the Catania harbor, Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018. One and seventy-seven migrants rescued at sea remained aboard the Italian Coast Guard ship Diciotti Tuesday morning as the Italian government refused to let them disembark in the port of Catania until other European countries agree to take them.The Diciotti arrived in the port of Catania late Monday night after spending days off the Italian coast as the Italian and Maltese government bickered over where they will be taken. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli)
Migrants stand on the deck of the Italian Coast Guard ship Diciotti, moored at the Catania harbor, Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018. One and seventy-seven migrants rescued at sea remained aboard the Italian Coast Guard ship Diciotti Tuesday morning as the Italian government refused to let them disembark in the port of Catania until other European countries agree to take them.The Diciotti arrived in the port of Catania late Monday night after spending days off the Italian coast as the Italian and Maltese government bickered over where they will be taken. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli)
Migrants stand on the deck of the Italian Coast Guard ship Diciotti, moored at the Catania harbor, Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018. One and seventy-seven migrants rescued at sea remained aboard the Italian Coast Guard ship Diciotti Tuesday morning as the Italian government refused to let them disembark in the port of Catania until other European countries agree to take them.The Diciotti arrived in the port of Catania late Monday night after spending days off the Italian coast as the Italian and Maltese government bickered over where they will be taken. (AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli)