Migrant rescue ship docks at Malta port

VALLETTA — The migrant rescue ship Lifeline, stranded in the Mediterranean for nearly a week carrying over 200 migrants, docked at the Maltese Port of Valletta Wednesday evening, AFP witnessed.

Lifeline, a vessel for the German charity Mission Lifeline, has been waiting to be allocated a port for six days after rescuing 234 migrants off the coast of Libya last Thursday. 

The migrants on board will be distributed among eight EU nations who have agreed to take them in, Maltese Prime minister Joseph Muscat said on Wednesday.

So far Malta, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Ireland, Belgium and France have agreed to welcome some of the migrants.

Muscat said that after the migrants had disembarked, the Lifeline ship would be impounded in order to carry out an investigation into its legal status and actions on the night of the rescue.

Mission Lifeline has come under fire from EU leaders who accuse it of contravening international law by rescuing the migrants when the Libyan coastguard was already intervening. 

Muscat also warned that the situation was "unique" and could not be considered a blueprint for handling future rescues.