Italy’s deputy prime minister has threatened to pull the country’s EU funding if the bloc does not come to the aid of 150 people stranded aboard an Italian coastguard ship.

The migrants have been blocked at the Sicilian port of Catania on the Diciotti vessel since Monday night because the Italian government is refusing to allow them to disembark without commitments from the EU to take some of them in.

A meeting of high-level representatives from around a dozen EU member states is due to be held on Friday to discuss the issue, according to the Commission.