Migrant rescue ship docks at French port as row with Italy blazes

A rescue ship carrying 230 migrants and refugees has docked at a French amid a blazing row between France and Italy over which country is responsible for them.

The Ocean Viking, operated by a French NGO, docked at the port of Toulon on Friday.

The ship had picked up the migrants at sea near the Libyan coast before spending weeks seeking a port to accept them.

France had never before allowed a rescue vessel carrying migrants from the Mediterranean to land on its coast, but did so this time because Italy had refused access.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Thursday that the migrants were Italy's responsibility under EU rules, and that the French move was an "exceptional" measure.

He said Italy's refusal to accept the migrants was "incomprehensible" and that there would be "severe consequences" for Italy's bilateral relations with France, and with the European Union as a whole.

He said France had acted according to its "humanitarian duty", while Italy had "lacked humanity".

READ MORE: France and Italy's ping-pong on migrants, explained

End of an ordeal

On Friday, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned what she called an "aggressive reaction" by the French government, telling reporters that France's criticism was "incomprehensible and unjustified".

The Ocean Viking ship had initially sought access to Italy's coast, which is closest to where the migrants were picked up, saying health and sanitary conditions onboard were rapidly worsening.

Italy refused, saying other nations needed to shoulder more of the burden for taking in the thousands of migrants trying to reach Europe from North Africa every year.

A French doctor boarded the ship before it docked to identify the most vulnerable members of the migrant group to be brought on land first.

"Emotion is running high on the ship," Laurence Bondard, at the SOS Mediterranee NGO operating the Operation Viking, told AFP.

"Everybody is very, very tired, but also relieved to set foot on land, it's the end of an ordeal."

The migrants, more than 50 of whom are children, were taken to an international waiting zone pending the processing of requests for asylum.

They would not be allowed to leave the zone until the process was completed in about three weeks, the government said. Asylum interviews were to start Saturday.

Some 600 police were deployed for the ship's arrival, with the Red Cross in charge of humanitarian aid.

READ MORE: Italy's refusal to allow docking of migrant ship 'unacceptable': France

Deepening row

Meloni, head of Italy's most right-wing government in decades, has appeared ready to push the dispute to the top of the European agenda.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi Thursday said the request had been for "234 migrants, when Italy has taken in 90,000 just this year".

Nine European nations have committed to hosting two-thirds of the migrants, Darmanin said Thursday, with the remaining third staying in France.

Germany will take "more than 80", while Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Luxembourg and Ireland will also contribute in the name of "European solidarity", he said.

In retaliation for Italy's stance, France has suspended a plan to take 3,500 refugees currently in Italy, part of a European burden-sharing accord, and urged Germany and other EU nations to do the same.