A group of 171 migrants who refused help by Maltese rescuers remain stranded off Lampedusa awaiting instructions by the Italian authorities.

The boat got embroiled in fresh controversy between Italy and Malta over who should assume responsibility for the migrants. Malta retorted on Thursday that the boat was not in distress and the migrants were picked up closer to the Italian island.

On Wednesday, Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Malta should take the migrants since they sailed through its rescue zone. He claimed the migrants had been ignored by the Maltese authorities despite being in difficulty.

However, a spokesman for the Office of the Prime Minister said on Friday that the situation remained unchanged.

“The Italian coastguard intercepted the boat within the Maltese search and rescue region, without coordination with the competent Rescue Coordination Centre, in order to stop it from entering the Italian search-and-rescue region.

“The boat was being attended continuously and closely monitored by an Armed Forces of Malta patrol vessel throughout the whole journey within the Maltese search-and-rescue region.”

A map distributed by the Maltese government showing the boat was intercepted close to Lampedusa.

The migrants had refused assistance and insisted on proceeding with their journey to their intended destination - Italy. The AFM vessel continued to monitor the vessel “to fulfil a duty for care”, he added.

“The interception by the Italian coastguard on a vessel exercising its right of freedom of navigation on high seas, is not considered as a rescue,” the spokesman said.

He noted that the migrants remained stranded on the Italian vessel Diciotti, within Italian territory close to Lampedusa, awaiting instructions by the Italian authorities to either enter Lampedusa or any other port in Italy as decided by the Italian authorities.

If Italy still wanted to treat this case as a rescue, Lampedusa remained the nearest place of safety as per applicable conventions, he noted.

The case has raised a storm on Italian social media, with many strongly criticising the master the Diciotti, for picking up the migrants.

This is the latest tussle between Malta and Italy since the new Italian government took over and imposed a hard line on migrant arrivals.