Migrant arrival at Port of Valletta

Aquarius, which is run by SOS Méditerranée and Doctors Without Borders, arrived at the port last week. There were reportedly cheers on the vessel as it docked.

There were 97 males and 44 females on the vessel — including 67 unaccompanied minors — mostly from Somalia and Eritrea.

The ship rescued the migrants off the Libyan coast in two separate missions five days previously, but initially, both Italy and Malta refused access at their ports.

Italy does not permit port to ships run by humanitarian groups and had previously suggested that Britain should take responsibility for the migrants on the vessel due to it sailing under British territory Gibraltar’s flag.

On Tuesday, Malta agreed to let the migrants disembark as part of an EU deal that the country described as “a concrete example of European leadership and solidarity”.

Initially, migrants were set to be split between five nations: Spain, Germany, France, Portugal and Luxembourg.

However, in a government statement, Malta added Italy to the EU countries that had agreed to take in migrants.

One of the doctors on the ship told AFP that its passengers were exhausted and mentally-scarred from their journeys.