EU Countries to share migrants stranded on boat by Italy

European countries have come to an agreement on how to share responsibility for 131 migrants who were blocked on board a coastguard vessel by Italian authorities.

Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said he had reached a deal with the EU for Germany, France, Portugal, Luxembourg and Ireland to take in the asylum seekers who were rescued at sea last week.

Some 140 migrants, who set off from Libya in two boats, were picked up by Italian patrols and transferred to the coastguard ship Bruno Gregoretti.

The operation took place on the same day that at least 115 other migrants were feared drowned in a shipwreck off Libya – according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

Salvini, also interior minister, has taken a hard line against migrants rescued at sea being brought to Italy, which he says bears an unfair burden in the crisis.