More than 10 jump overboard from migrant ship stranded off Italy

Migrants jump off the Spanish rescue ship Open Arms, close to the Italian shore in Lampedusa, Italy. [Reuters]

More than 10 of the migrants on a rescue ship stranded off southern Italy jumped overboard and tried to swim ashore on Tuesday as the Spanish charity operating the vessel remained in a stand-off with the Italian government over the migrants’ fate.

The ship Open Arms, at sea for 19 days with almost 100 migrants onboard, has been waiting just off the port of Lampedusa, asking to bring the mostly African migrants ashore despite an Italian ban on private rescue ships docking.