Italy has agreed to accept 140 migrants rescued off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa, ending a four-day stand-off with Malta.

在与马尔他僵持了四天之后，意大利同意接受蓝佩杜萨岛沿海获救的140位移民。

 Lampedusa is a common route into the EU for African migrants

Rome had at first insisted the ship was in a Maltese search and rescue area, and said Valletta（瓦莱塔） should take them in.

Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Italy was taking in the migrants for "humanitarian¹ reasons", and insisted its actions did not set a precedent²（先例，前例）.

The migrants were rescued after their boats got in trouble in rough seas.

They were picked up by the MV Pinar on Thursday some 40km (25 miles) off the coast of Lampedusa.

But a stand-off developed after Malta said the migrants should be taken to the nearest port, which it said was Lampedusa.

 The Pinar is in an area that is on one of the main migration³ routes from North Africa to Italy

'Humanitarian emergency'

Each year, tens of thousands of migrants pay smugglers（走私者） to try to reach Italian shores. Often their boats capsize or get stranded⁴（搁浅的，进退两难的）, and nearby fishing boats or military ships rescue them.

Speaking on Italian state TV, Mr Frattini said Italy would accept the migrants, but was unequivocal（不含糊的，明白的） in his disapproval⁵ of Malta's attitude.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso tried to intervene（插入，调停） earlier this week, the Italians pointed⁶ out, in an effort to convince Malta to change its mind.

"Malta should have taken them in," Mr Frattini said.

An Italian foreign ministry⁷ statement said the decision was made "exclusively in consideration of the painful humanitarian emergency aboard the cargo⁸ ship".

It stressed that acceptance of the migrants "must not in any way be understood as a precedent nor as a recognition of Malta's reasons," the Associated Press reported.

Earlier on Sunday, Italian coastguard officials delivered a substantial（大量的，实质上的） supply of drinking water to the migrants, who had stayed aboard the Pinar since their rescue.

Reports said the migrants were likely to be taken to southern Sicily（西西里）, although a pregnant woman and some suffering from illness would be treated in Lampedusa.