A German aid ship that has sailed southern Mediterranean waters for three weeks in search of a haven for its passengers was blocked by Italian coast guard motorboats from docking at a Sicilian port.
Police and Coast Guard craft had escorted the aid group Cap Anamur's ship towards Porto Empedocle, but Coast Guard and police boats guarded the entrance to the port, preventing the ship from docking.
The Italian Interior Ministry said the captain had requested help, signalling "he was no longer able to guarantee the control of the ship and the command of the crew" and was concerned about the "psychic-physical" well-being of the passengers, who include 36 Sudanese seeking asylum.
The ministry said doctors will examine the passengers and crew and those in need of care will be taken to local hospitals but that the boat would remain blocked outside the port to allow an investigation of what it called "the mysterious aspects regarding the conduct of the ship and crew".
It did not elaborate, but some Italian news reports have said authorities suspect that the ship might have been provoking a standoff to test the immigrant policies of European nations.
Italian Sky TG24 TV said that the captain had reported that the refugees, weak and suffering from rough seas, had threatened to jump overboard and that he decided to head toward land whether authorised or not.
An Italian priest who had gone aboard the ship said the refugees' psychological, not physical, health was at risk.
"They're a mile from the coast. They see land, but they can't reach it. For this reason, they're collapsing emotionally," the Rev Gaspare Spadavecchia was quoted as saying by the Italian news agency ANSA.
Earlier, Italian authorities had said the refugees first passed through Malta and should have applied for asylum there.
AP