France, Germany, Malta, Portugal, Romania and Luxembourg have all offered to receive some of the 47 rescued migrants on board the Sea Watch 3, prompting Maltese authorities to finally allow the boat to dock.

It is not clear how many migrants Luxembourg will take. It forms part of an ongoing adhoc agreement by Luxembourg to help.

According to foreign affairs minister Jean Asselborn (LSAP), earlier in January the grand duchy had already pledged to receive six migrants from rescues carried out in the Mediterranean in December 2018.

Responding to a parliamentary question from Mars de Bartolomeo (LSAP), Asselborn said the six people, who would arrive shortly in Luxembourg, were Eritrean, Somalian and Sudanese.

Sea Watch is a non-profit organisation, funded through donations, conducting search and rescue operations in the central Mediterranean.

In a recent report, the UN refugee agency estimates that 2,275 people died while trying to cross the Mediterranean in 2018.

It’s not the first time the grand duchy has offered to help in such a situation. Luxembourg accepted to receive 15 migrants when the Lifeline, a ship carrying 230 migrants, was stranded for five days in the Mediterranean in June 2018. It also received migrants from the Aquarius, a ship carrying 141 migrants, which was caught in a standoff between member states in August.