Salvini insists that Italy’s ports were closed as SeaWatch 3 heads to Italy’s shores with 47 persons on board

Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on Thursday insisted the country’s ports were closed to migrants, as a ship carrying 47 people rescued at sea headed for Sicily in deteriorating weather.

“Umpteenth provocation: having stayed for days in Maltese waters, Sea Watch 3 with 47 on board is heading for our shores. No one will disembark in Italy,” he tweeted.

“Ready to send medicine, food and whatever is necessary, but Italian ports are and will remain closed.”

The Dutch-flagged vessel, which is operated by the German NGO Sea Watch, picked up the migrants and asylum seekers – including eight minors – six days ago off the coast of Libya as they made the treacherous Mediterranean crossing.

Since then Malta and Italy, the nearest European Union countries, have refused to let them dock, despite an encroaching storm.

“We’re facing a Mediterranean cyclone, a rather rare weather phenomenon with waves of 7 meters (23 foot), rain and icy wind,” the NGO tweeted on Thursday.