Migrants allowed to disembark in Sicily

Migrants on two border patrol ships have disembarked in a Sicilian port after European countries promised to take some of them in.

Italy’s hard-line, anti-migrant government had kept the two military ships from docking at Pozzallo until other countries came forward.

The ships came into port and disembarked their passengers, who were seen being screened at dawn on Monday. Many women and children had already come ashore.

Germany, Spain and Portugal have each agreed to respectively accept 50 of the migrants, following similar offers by France and Malta.

But not everyone agreed. The Czech Republic rebuffed the appeal and called the distribution plan a “road to hell”.