Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on Sunday refused permission to a rescue vessel carrying 629 refugees to dock at the country’s ports. The vessel with 123 unaccompanied minors and seven pregnant women on board is stranded in the Mediterranean Sea.

Salvini said Malta should accept the vessel. “Malta takes in nobody,” Salvini wrote on Facebook. “France pushes people back at the border, Spain defends its frontier with weapons. From today, Italy will also start to say no to human trafficking, no to the business of illegal immigration.” Salvini, leader of the right-wing League, had promised voters ahead of the country’s recent general election that it would act tough against immigration.

The Italian government said it had written to Malta asking to let the vessel, Aquarius, dock there. “The island cannot continue looking the other way when it comes to respecting international conventions,” read the Italian government’s statement signed by Salvini and Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli.

However, Malta denied Italy’s request and said that it has nothing to do with the rescue operation. “Malta is neither the competent nor the coordinating authority in this case,” the Maltese government said in a statement. “Malta will observe prevailing laws.”

European charity, SOS Méditerranée, said the group of sub-Saharan Africans were picked up in six different rescue operations off the coast of Libya. The Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Center told Aquarius on Sunday to stand by in their current position, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) tweeted.

The United Nation’s refugee agency in Italy has asked the states to “rapidly find solutions to allow migrants and refugees on board the Aquarius to disembark safely and quickly”.

More than 6,00,000 refugees from Africa have reached Italy in the past five years. Italy is the entry point for migrants from North Africa going to Europe.