Italy's Salvini agrees to let 27 minors off migrant ship

The minors were transferred to a coast guard vessel and a border patrol boat for disembarkation and processing on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa. The fate of the other migrants still aboard the Open Arms off Lampedusa remained uncertain.

Lampedusa: Italian hard-line Interior Minister Matteo Salvini buckled under pressure on Saturday and agreed to let a group of unaccompanied minors leave migrant rescue ship 'Open Arms' after two weeks at sea in the Mediterranean.

Spanish aid group Open Arms said that the decision concerned 27 minors who were picked up off Libya earlier this month, along with more than 100 other migrants.

The minors were transferred on Saturday to a coast guard vessel and a border patrol boat for disembarkation and processing on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa.The fate of the other migrants still aboard the Open Arms off Lampedusa remained uncertain.Earlier in the week, Premier Giuseppe Conte had written to Salvini demanding that minors be allowed off the boat.Salvini wrote back on Saturday with a three-page missive of his own saying that he would do so but made clear it was Conte's choice and that it didn't set a precedent.Two weeks ago, Open Arms rescued the migrants in the Mediterranean near Libya and won a legal battle to enter Italy's territorial waters despite a ban by Salvini preventing humanitarian aid groups from docking.The ship has been off Italy's coast waiting to disembark after Spain and five other European Union nations agreed to take them in.But, 107 migrants are still stranded aboard Open Arms. They are waiting to be allowed to dock at the Sicilian island of Lampedusa.