More than 200 migrants, who according to the Italian government should have been rescued and taken on shore by Malta, have arrived in Sicily.
A total of 236 people, including five babies, seven children and almost 50 women landed in the southeastern port of Pozzallo, Italy's Interior Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
According to the ministry, nearly all migrants are from Eritrea, but authorities also identified a Tunisian and a Libyan who acted as skippers. They are likely to face migrant trafficking charges.
Only the women and minors were allowed to disembark immediately, even though a spokesman for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) expressed concern for the others.
"The [migrants'] boat is having clear problems in staying afloat. Everyone should be disembarked as soon as possible. [IOM Italy} is at the pier," Flavio Di Giacomo wrote on Twitter.
Sergio Scandura, a journalist at the scene, tweeted that the Italian coastguard intervened to "stabilise" the vessel as it was listing dangerously and was at risk of sinking.
"The situation is under control," Scandura wrote shortly after midnight
Under far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, Italy has hardened its stance on migration, notably by banishing private rescue ships from its ports and restricting asylum rules.
Earlier on Saturday, Salvini said a Maltese patrol boat had "abandoned a dinghy with 150-200 migrants in the middle of the Mediterranean," leaving it "headed to Italy."
"Valletta had taken on the role of co-ordinating rescue operations, but as usual it is trying to dump immigrants on our country," he wrote on social media.
Salvini has repeatedly accused Malta of shirking its responsibilities when it comes to handling the constant flow of migrants from North Africa.
Two weeks ago, he said 13 migrants who arrived in the island of Lampedusa told Italian authorities they were helped to complete their sea journey by people who looked like the Maltese coastguard.
