Refugees rescued by cruise ship refuse to disembark

More than 300 mostly Syrian refugees rescued by a cruise liner on Thursday refused to disembark in Cyprus’s southern port of Limassol, demanding instead to be taken to Italy, the cruise company said.

“We were supposed to sail at 10:30 tonight, unfortunately these people want to negotiate,” Kikis Vassiliou, managing director of Salamis Cruise Lines, told reporters. “They want us to send them to Italy.”