A total 131 migrants were on Monday still stranded on the Italian coastguard vessel Gregoretti following their rescue from a shipwreck in the Central Mediterranean last week after authorities refused to allow them ashore.
Interior minister Matteo Salvini, who is also deputy premier, and transport minister Danilo Toninelli wants the rescued migrants to be redistributed among other European states
So far, a woman who is eight months pregnant has been allowed off the Gregoretti, with her husband and two children. The migrants still aboard the ship are being given food, water and medical attention.
The Gregoretti is currently moored at the Sicilian port of Augusta and saved the migrants on Friday.
Toninelli said on Sunday that the Gregoretti had been allowed to dock in Augusta because it is a military ship.