Italy on Saturday agreed to allow rescue ship Ocean Viking to disembark 82 migrants on southern islands Lampedusa after six days at sea following a European deal to distribute them.
"The Ocean Viking just received instructions from the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre of Rome to proceed to Lampedusa," SOS Mediterranee tweeted.
"An ad hoc European agreement between Italy, France, Germany, Portugal and Luxembourg has been reached to allow the landing," said French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner, referring to the division of the migrants between the five countries.
"We now need to agree on a genuine temporary European mechanism," Castaner added.
France and Germany have agreed to take 25 percent of the migrants each, with Italy to take 10 percent.
The offering of a safe port to the Ocean Viking is a reversal of the hardline stance taken by the country's ex-interior minister Matteo Salvini last year.
Under far-right leader Salvini, charity vessels with rescued migrants on board faced fines of up to a million euros as well as the arrest of the captain and impounding of the boat.
