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| Italy takes in stranded migrants | Italy takes in stranded migrants |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| Italy has agreed to accept 140 migrants rescued off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa, ending a four-day stand-off with Malta. | |
| Rome had at first insisted the ship was in a Maltese search and rescue area, and said Valletta should take them in. | Rome had at first insisted the ship was in a Maltese search and rescue area, and said Valletta should take them in. |
| Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Italy was taking in the migrants for "humanitarian reasons", and insisted its actions did not set a precedent. | Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Italy was taking in the migrants for "humanitarian reasons", and insisted its actions did not set a precedent. |
| The migrants were rescued after their boats got in trouble in rough seas. | The migrants were rescued after their boats got in trouble in rough seas. |
| The MV Pinar was rescued on Thursday some 40km (25 miles) off the coast of Lampedusa. | |
| But a stand-off developed after Malta said the migrants should be taken to the nearest port, which it said was Lampedusa. | |
| Each year, tens of thousands of migrants pay smugglers to try to reach Italian shores. Often their boats capsize or get stranded, and nearby fishing boats or military ships rescue them. | |
| Speaking on Italian state TV, Mr Frattini said Italy would accept the migrants, but was unequivocal in his disapproval of Malta's attitude. | |
| "Malta should have taken them in," Mr Frattini said. | |
| An Italian foreign ministry statement said the decision was made "exclusively in consideration of the painful humanitarian emergency aboard the cargo ship". | |
| It stressed that acceptance of the migrants "must not in any way be understood as a precedent nor as a recognition of Malta's reasons," the Associated Press reported. | |
| Reports said the migrants were likely to be taken to southern Sicily, although a pregnant woman and some suffering from illness would be treated in Lampedusa. | |
| The Pinar is in an area that is on one of the main migration routes from North Africa to Italy |