The ship Geo Barents has picked up close to 600 people who were in distress at sea off the Italian island of Sicily on Saturday.

The so-called rescue ship Geo Barents belongs to Doctors Without Borders (MSF), and it is reported that 599 people were on board a small and fragile craft in the sea off Sicily. There could also be more women and children here.

This and similar ships are often accused of operating a form of ferry service across the Mediterranean and into Europe.

Those who operate these ships often use terms such as rescue ships and refugees when describing their activities.

NTB-Reuters reports on the case on Saturday evening.

Everyone has been rescued and is being treated by our medical team, the organisation wrote on Twitter.

It is presented as a rescue operation, where this ship happened to be nearby and could provide help.

According to MSF, the Italian authorities have given the ship permission to put the migrants ashore in the city of Bari, a trip that will take about 40 hours.

Aid organisations are happy to find something to criticise, even when the Italians let all these migrants land. They have now gone out against the Italian government because these ships have to dock in cities far away from where the actual rescue operation takes place.

The flood of migrants to Italy from third world countries now seems endless. It just flows in, and Italy has its hands more than full to welcome them. A state of emergency has been declared, see below.

So far this year, more than 47,000 migrants have arrived in Italy, according to figures from the Italian Ministry of the Interior. This is far more than the approximately 18,000 who came to the country in the same period last year.

Most come over from the coast of North Africa, there is often a mixture of people both from North African countries and from a number of countries further south in Africa.

What they all have in common is that they are mostly young men, with a few exceptions, and they have very little to offer modern, Western society. The migrants essentially end up as a burden for Italy or other countries in Europe where they eventually settle.

When it comes to such numbers, it goes without saying that eventually it will simply bring Western welfare societies to their knees.

Many had hoped that the new Italian Prime Minister Meloni would be able to do something about this, but at the moment she seems as powerless as her predecessors.