VALLETTA, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Italian government will participate in the initiative to redistribute migrants on board the rescue vessel MV Aquarius, Maltese government said on Wednesday.
"Following the announcement of a joint cooperation between 5 member states to redistribute all immigrants on board the MV Aquarius, the Italian Government has contacted the Maltese Government to participate in the initiative," the government said in a statement.
The Aquarius docked in Malta on Wednesday afternoon, with 141 rescued migrants on board.
Before being granted permission to enter Malta, the ship had been stranded at sea for four days, as the Mediterranean states including Italy, Spain and Tunisia initially refused to accept the ship.
The Maltese government announced on Tuesday that all migrants of the vessel will be distributed amongst France, Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain.
"The countries participating are now France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg and Italy," said the statement.
