German NGO ship Sea-Watch 4, carrying 482 migrants, was waiting to be assigned a port on Monday (November 22) after seven rescue operations carried out in the Mediterranean Sea.

On Thursday (November 18), the ship's crew members rescued 90 migrants from an overcrowded wooden boat off the coast of Lampedusa and six other migrants who, according to Sea-Watch, jumped into the sea from a Libyan coast guard patrol boat.

Sea-Watch 4 asked Italian authorities a port of safety for the migrants on board, including 17 pregnant women and 148 minors.

Italy has seen a sharp increase in boat migrants in recent weeks and the latest mass arrivals will put further pressure on Prime Minister Mario Draghi's government to secure an agreement with European Union partners over how to deal with the influx.

Some 61.251 migrants have disembarked in Italy this year, according to interior ministry data, up from 32.476 in the same period in 2020.

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