EVERY minute in which the authorities fail to provide 410 refugees onboard a charity rescue ship with port access is a minute too long, a member of the crew told the Star today.

Geo Barents, a rescue ship run by Doctors Without Borders (MSF), has been waiting for a response from the Maltese and Italian authorities to respond to their calls for a port to disembark the rescued since Saturday.

The ship carried out its first three rescues last Thursday and Friday in international waters off the coast of Libya. During the first operation, MSF said the EU-funded Libyan Coastguard attempted to intimidate and threaten the crew over the radio.