The Open Arms, run by a Spanish-run NGO, and the German Alan Kurdi are caught in the latest stand-off with far-right interior minister Matteo Salvini, who does not want charity ships to bring
Salvini may soon have to take his fight to two more rescue vessels.
Prosecutors in Sicily on Friday released the Mare Jonio -- run by the Italian left-wing collective Mediterranea -- which had been seized after a rescue in May.
The collective said it was preparing to set sail again as soon as possible.
It will be joined by the Ocean Viking, run jointly by SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which is due to set off shortly from Marseille for waters off Libya.
The Proactiva Open Arms group said its vessel had plucked 69
They included people bearing "terrible signs of violence" and a nine-month pregnant woman having contractions, it said.
Open Arms on Thursday had already rescued 55 people from a sinking vessel, including two babies and some 15 women.
As they crowded together on deck under the shade of tarpaulins, the charity ship headed north but its destination was unclear.
Salvini has signed an order prohibiting the ship from entering Italian waters.
He has done the same for the Alan Kurdi, which is run by German NGO Sea-Eye and has 40 rescued
After initially heading to waters off the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, the ship said Friday it had changed course for Malta.
Those on the Alan Kurdi, rescued Wednesday off Libya, hail from West Africa and include a pregnant woman, three young children and a man with gunshot wounds, according to Sea-Eye.
All
But the Spanish authorities have forbidden the ship to return to the waters off Libya, saying it would face a fine of between up to 900,000 euros, according to the charity.
During its last rotation off Libya in early July, the Alan Kurdi rescued 109
Salvini has insisted since taking up the interior ministry post in June 2018 that rescued
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...an countries to look after them.
On Wednesday Salvini agreed to let 116