Humanitarian groups said on Sunday Italy had broken international law by refusing to take in migrants snatched from the sea when a German rescue organization announced it would take legal action against Rome.

As rescue ships in Catania waited for permission to disembark the last person, a migrant rescue hotline said about 500 others got into trouble making the perilous Mediterranean crossing.

A father with a baby in a purple cap was among the first to leave the Geo Barents, a ship run by the medical aid organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

He was one of the lucky 357 people who were allowed to leave the country. Italy refused entry to 215 more people.

Earlier in the day, authorities took in 144 people, including children and the sick, from the German-flagged Humanity 1 but turned away 35 adult male migrants, charity SOS Humanity said.

The ship was then “ordered to leave the port of Catania,” but its captain refused, it said.

The charity said Italian authorities decided the 35 adults were “healthy” after a “brief medical examination” but said there was “no translator present to assess their mental and physical condition, nor did there have a psychological one.” given investigation”.

“In addition, the 35 survivors have the right to apply for asylum and to undergo a formal asylum procedure, which can only be carried out on land.”

The organization said it would take legal action and appeals against the government’s policies would be filed in the courts in Rome and Catania on Monday.

Amnesty International called on Italy to stop discriminating, saying: “The Law of the Sea is clear; a rescue ends when all rescued disembark in a safe place.”

Italy is violating its international obligations, the human rights organization said.

Those who were denied permission to leave Humanity 1 are “extremely depressed,” SOS Humanity spokeswoman Petra Krischok told AFP.

MSF said the “selective and partial disembarkation” was illegal and accused the politicians of “gambling with (migrant) lives”.

Humanity 1 and Geo Barents were two of four ships that had requested safe harbor. The Ocean Viking and Rise Above are still off the coast of Sicily.

A photographer on the Ocean Viking said there was “tension among the survivors” who were rescued 16 days ago and faced another cold night on deck as the weather worsened.

While the ships waited, Alarm Phone, a group that runs a hotline for migrants in need of rescue, said it was alerted to “a large boat with about 500 people in distress” in the Mediterranean.

Italy’s new far-right government has vowed to crack down on migrants attempting the dangerous boat crossing from North Africa to Europe.

According to the Interior Ministry, over 87,000 people have landed in Italy so far this year – although only 14 per cent of them have been rescued at sea and taken to safety by charity ships.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi previously said those who do not “qualify” would have to “leave territorial waters”.

Sources close to Transport Minister Matteo Salvini, who controls the ports, said they would “receive the necessary support” to do so.

MP Aboubakar Soumahoro, who was present when the chosen ones disembarked from Humanity 1, criticized the “selection of shipwrecked migrants”.

The main opposition party said Piantedosi should offer an explanation to Parliament.

Piantedosi said on Saturday that the migrants who are not allowed to enter Italy must be “cared for by the flag state” – a reference to the national flags under which ships sail.

Humanity 1’s Rise Above and Mission Lifeline sail under the German flag.

SOS Mediterranee’s Geo Barents and Ocean Viking are registered in Norway.

Norway’s foreign ministry said Thursday it had “no responsibility” for those rescued by private Norwegian-flagged vessels in the Mediterranean.

Germany, in a diplomatic message to Italy, insisted the charities “make an important contribution to saving lives” and asked Rome to “help them as soon as possible”.

Pope Francis chimed in on Sunday, saying that Italy “cannot do anything without Europe’s consent,” and told journalists that the arrival of migrants “is Europe’s responsibility.”