Migrant rescue vessel carrying 176 seeks EU port

The crew of a ship that rescued 176 migrants in the Mediterranean over the weekend said Monday it had so far received no response from any EU port to requests to disembark them.

Ocean Viking, operated by the NGOs SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders, picked up the migrants from inflatable boats in two operations off the coast of Libya. They include four pregnant women and at least nine people aged under 16.

"No site in Libya can currently be considered safe" for migrants, SOS Mediterranee said in a statement.

The Ocean Viking's appeal for help comes as European leaders struggle to agree on how to jointly handle the thousands of people trying to reach the continent from Africa.

SOS Mediterranee said it was the fourth time it had asked for access to an EU port since August, shortly after relaunching rescue operations following a seven-month hiatus it blamed on obstruction by European nations.

Italy, France, Germany, and Malta proposed last month a system for automatically distributing asylum seekers across the EU, but so far only a handful of other nations have backed the plan.

"Ad hoc accords cannot be the solution. We are calling on governments to put an end to an unacceptable situation," said Fabienne Lassalle, a deputy director at SOS Mediterranee France.