German rescue boat with 800 migrants aboard heads to Sicily

ROME (AP) — A German humanitarian ship with more than 800 rescued migrants aboard is sailing to Sicily after being granted permission by Italian authorities after days of waiting. The organization Sea-Eye says its vessel Sea-Eye 4 was assigned the port of Trapani in western Sicily on Saturday evening. The ship was expected to arrive offshore later Sunday. Sea-Eye tweeted its thanks to the Italian coast guard. About half of the migrants had been rescued from a sinking wooden boat earlier in the week and taken onto Sea-Eye 4. The vessel already had aboard about 400 passengers plucked to safety from the Mediterranean in separate operations.