A fresh controversy has erupted between Malta and Italy over who should assume responsibility for 171 migrants picked up by the Italian Coast Guard after they refused help by Maltese rescuers.
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini was quoted as saying by Italian media that Malta should take the migrants since they sailed through Malta’s rescue zone but were ignored by the Maltese authorities despite being in difficulty.  
But Malta retorted that the boat was not in distress, it had a right of passage, and the migrants were picked up closer to the Italian island of Lempedusa than Malta itself.  
The government explained that the boat had refused assistance from a Maltese patrol boat which had monitored it while it was in transit through the Malta search and rescue zone.