A boat carrying hundreds of "desperate" migrants rescued from dinghies off the Libyan coast is stranded on the sea without basic supplies.
The group of 224 have been banned from docking in both Malta and Italy as both authorities have refused to take them in.
'Lifeline' contains 123 unaccompanied minors, 11 other children and seven pregnant women who have been stuck on the water for three days.
The boat is not equipped to deal with the migrants and volunteers aboard the boat say they are stretched to the limit.
A rescue call from the boat said: "We are in the south of Malta in international waters, some supplies are out, today we absolutely need ship supplies. Drugs, blankets, help us."
Meanwhile, both countries are fighting over where the ship should dock.
Italy's anti-migrant minister Matteo Salvini saud: "Malta should finally open one of its ports and let these desperate people disembark.
"They will only see Italy on a postcard."
He said the ship had loaded migrants in Libyan waters against orders from Italy's coastguard - but the group say the passengers were rescued in international waters.
"We cannot take one more person," he added. "On the contrary, we want to send away a few. Italian ports are no longer at the disposal of traffickers.
"Open the Maltese ports! Open the French ports!"
He likened such rescue ships to taxi services that finish the job for migrant smugglers.
Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli called Malta's refusal "absurd and inhumane" in a statement on his Facebook page.
He said the ship is not sailing towards Italy and stopped in Maltese waters.
"They are putting so many lives in danger," he said. "The Maltese have no justification for their attitude.
"We will not accept pre-packed solutions that work to the detriment of Italy. We keep the guard high."
The ship, operated by German aid group Mission Lifeline, carries the Dutch flag.
Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said he had told his Italian counterpart, Giuseppe Conte, his country would not take the ship.
On Twitter, he wrote: “We are concerned at Italy authorities’ directions given to Aquarius on high seas. They manifestly go against international rules, and risk creating a dangerous situation for all those involved."
This comes a week after Salvini clamped down on arrivals from the Mediterranean on another ship, the Aquarius, which was carrying 630 migrants and ended up being rerouted to Spain.
EU law requires asylum seekers to register in the first safe country they reach, but frontline countries such as Italy and Malta say the burden needs to be shared out across the bloc.
Malta as always refused to take large numbers of migrants, as it is a small nation with fewer than half a million residents.