A Spanish rescue ship carrying 216 migrants was heading on Friday to a Sicilian port after having a high-seas run-in with Libya's armed coastguard during the rescue.

Proactiva Open Arms said a sick baby and her mother were evacuated to Malta on Friday while the other migrants and crew on the ship waited at sea for instructions.

By late Friday, the group's founder, Oscar Camps, tweeted that the Italian coastguard had authorised the ship to dock in Pozzallo, Sicily, on Saturday.

Proactiva spokeswoman Laura Lanuza said a Libyan coastguard vessel on Thursday had threatened to shoot Proactiva's rescue dinghies if they did not offload their passengers during the rescue in international waters, 73 miles off Libya's coast.

Proactiva refused and eventually the Libyan ship pulled away.

Italy's coastguard, for the first time, then required Spanish authorities to formally ask that Proactiva's ship be allowed to dock, Lanuza said.

The Italian coastguard said it did not have information about the rescue.

In the tweet, Camps thanked "all those who have collaborated to resolve this conflict situation!"

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