A small group of migrants on board an Italian navy vessel docked at an Albanian port Friday, as Rome attempted to salvage its plan to process asylum-seekers abroad after the first attempt was thwarted by legal obstacles.

A reporter reported that the ship had arrived before 8 am (0700 GMT). On Wednesday, only eight migrants were rescued from the area near Lampedusa.

Italy built two reception centers in Albania as part of the first EU nation's project to divert migrants into a non EU country. Italians staff the facilities in Shengjin, Gjader and other areas.

According to the agreement with Tirana the number of migrants in Albania at any one time cannot exceed 3,000.

Italia sent a group of 16 migrants in Albania last month, but the majority were brought back a few days later after deciding that they couldn't be detained there due to concerns over their legal status.

The military didn't say where this new group of asylum seekers came from. Italian newspapers speculated over the weekend that the government may focus on Tunisians, because they are deemed to be more stable than other countries.

The first migrants were from Egypt and Bangladesh. These two countries are among the 22 countries Italy has classified as safe. This means that it believes they can be quickly repatriated.

The Rome judges raised this question, pointing out a recent European Court of Justice ruling that said a country not in the EU could only be declared safe once its entire territory was deemed to be free of danger.

The entire group of asylum seekers was sent back to Italy in unguarded centres. (Reporting and editing by Ivana Skularac, Timothy Heritage and Fatos Brytyci)

(source: Reuters)