ROME, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Italy may start denying access to foreign vessels bringing rescued migrants to its shores, government sources told Italian news agency ANSA on Wednesday.
A record influx of some 10,000 migrants and refugees over the past four days has prompted Italy to tell the European Union in a formal message that the situation is getting serious.
Italy will continue saving lives at sea but it is "no longer sustainable" for all those rescued to be brought here and the possible block would include foreign vessels run by humanitarian NGOs, by the EU's Frontex border agency, and by the EU NavforMed mission against migrant traffickers, ANSA reported.
The recent massive flow of rescued refugees also prompted Interior Minister Marco Minniti to announce Tuesday that he was canceling a state visit to Washington DC, local media said.
Almost 9,000 people were rescued between Saturday and Monday, with a further 2,000 plucked on Tuesday from vessels run by human traffickers along the central Mediterranean route from Libya to Italy, according to local media. Televised footage showed distraught-looking men and women on inflatable dinghies handing babies and crying children to rescuers.
"Among the 1032 #people on board #Aquarius today are 2 newborn babies. Imagine what it takes for a new parent to take their baby to sea," tweeted Doctors Without Borders (MSF) humanitarian NGO on Wednesday, adding that "25 percent of people fleeing Libya are women & kids".
The body of a newborn was also among the arrivals in Italy on Wednesday. He was born at sea to a 26-year-old Somali woman, and died of post-partum complications soon after their rescue. "We tried to resuscitate him, but sadly there was nothing we could do," a doctor told Italy's RAI public broadcaster.
Also among Wednesday's arrivals was a Spanish Navy ship bringing over 900 migrants to the Italian island of Sardinia, including 126 women -- six of them pregnant -- and about 50 youngsters, some of them without accompanying adults. Televised footage showed adults holding hands with children coming down the gangway in the Sardinian port city of Cagliari.
Also on Wednesday, the Lower House whip for Silvio Berlusconi's center-right Forza Italia party, Renato Brunetta, called on Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni and Interior Minister Marco Minniti to stop NGO vessels from entering Italian ports. "Why don't some of these ships disembark in Marseille? Why don't they disembark in Spain or Malta?" Brunetta asked.
"It is unacceptable for these ships...to bring tens of thousands of desperate people solely to our country, while the EU keeps acting blind, deaf, and dumb," he was quoted by ANSA as telling reporters at the Lower House.
Italy and Greece are the first European landfall for thousands of men, women, and children embarking on human traffickers' vessels in a bid to flee war and destitution in Africa and the Middle East.
A total of 76,873 migrants and refugees reached Italy between January 1 and June 28, compared to 67,773 in the same period last year, according to Interior Ministry data published on Wednesday.
